Four Seasons
by kisescryingface
Summary: AU. Aomine Daiki is a rookie policeman and Kise Ryouta is a struggling model. The only thing they have in common is that they both lived in the same residential apartment complex. The story follows their relationship through all four seasons of their first year together.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note:

Okay, I take back my stand about not writing multi-chapters. I can't keep this one short so this might drag on for at least 8 chapters. The reviews I received from my fanfics earlier had motivated me to write even more. Thanks for reading my work and I hope that you'll enjoy this!

* * *

**Spring: ****Fated Meeting**

Aomine Daiki woke up from his afternoon nap to the sound of shouts and banging on the door. It sounded as if it was coming from downstairs but he was too sleepy to make any sense out of it.

He lives in a 2-storey high apartment complex containing only eight 1-bedroom apartments. The owner of the complex is a 68 year old widow by the name of Amai Suzume whom the residents will fondly refer to as 'Obaasan'. She herself lived in one of the apartment units in the same building while the rest are rented out as her source of income.

Aomine shifted positions and closed his eyes, hoping that the noise will go away so he can carry on with his nap. Finally, the banging stopped but there was more shouting now and Aomine started to hear things getting trashed around. As Aomine was about to drift back to sleep, there was the sound of panic knocking on his door. The knocking continued up to the point that it was getting too obvious for Aomine to ignore.

"Aomine-kun? Aomine-kun? Are you in? I know you're not working today so can you please open the door?"

It was the lady owner, Obaasan. Aomine dragged his feet to the door and opened it with a rude "what?".

"Aomine-kun! There are gang members downstairs harassing one of our tenants! You're a policeman! Please help."

"Well, I'm not on duty today and this area isn't exactly under my jurisdiction….…"

"AOMINE-KUN!"

"Yeah, yeah. Fine, I'm coming down. Let me grab my badge first," grunts Aomine as he started scanning his room for his police badge.

There was still a lot of commotion when he arrived downstairs. He noticed the other tenants peeking through their doors curious on what's going on but too afraid to actually step out and take a good look for themselves. Only the Obaasan was making a brave stand against the troublemakers, pleading with one of the guys to stop whatever they're doing right now and leave peacefully.

"Oi! What's going on here? Police!" said Aomine as he flashed his badge to two guys standing outside Apartment Number 3 which seemed to be the origin of the problem.

His appearance startled them and one of them rushed in to speak to someone. Not long after that, another three men came out, one of them sneering at Aomine while another spat near Aomine's feet before making their way out of the building. Aomine stayed calm despite knowing he was outnumbered so he was glad when they left without beating the lights out of him first.

"Thank you Aomine-kun! It's a good thing you're here since they won't listen to me… Ah––," said the landlady, turning her attention away from Aomine quickly as she rushed to the aid of the tenant who was harassed by the gang members earlier.

Aomine's job was done. He should have just returned upstairs to his place but his sense of duty and honour prompted him to go after the landlady to see if she needed anymore help. As soon as he stepped into the room, he saw how badly the place was trashed. Everything seemed to be in pieces and there was broken glass scattered dangerously on the floor. The tenant must have really pissed someone off, probably borrowed money from a loan shark and was unable to pay back his debts. He walked into the bedroom to see his landlady hugging a blonde guy with tearful amber-coloured eyes, comforting him with kind words. He looked to be about the same age as Aomine and he noticed a single blue hoop earring on his left ear. He didn't seem hurt but he looked terrified based on his pale complexion and trembling lips.

"There, there Kise-kun. It's alright now. We have a nice policeman here to protect us. Did they hurt you? Let's go to my apartment for a while. I'll make you a nice, warm drink and I'm sure I still have some nice cakes in the kitchen," said the landlady to the tearful blonde.

"You can come along too Aomine-kun," the landlady gestures towards Aomine.

Aomine thought that it was the right time to go back to his room but his stomach started growling at the mention of tea and cakes so he decided to tag along the duo to the landlady's apartment.

At the landlady's apartment, while she was preparing the food and drinks in the kitchen, Aomine scowled at the sulking blonde as he couldn't stand seeing grown-up men cry. Somehow, he has calmed down and has started to take in short, deep breaths. The silence was getting really awkward for Aomine but Kise broke it first.

"Umm… Ah… Thanks for your help… Sir, " he spoke in a timid voice.

"Aomine Daiki. Your friendly neighbourhood cop," replied Aomine sarcastically.

"Aomine…cchi…"

"Hah? Are you calling me names now?"

"Huh? No. No. I… I usually add –cchi to the names of people that earned my respect. Like in this case, you saved me and I'm really thankful for that."

"That's stupid."

"Ahh… Sorry," said Kise sadly.

"So how much money did you borrow from them?"

Kise looked up at Aomine through his glazed eyes, biting hard his lower lip but didn't answer.

"Oi! Are you listening to me? Stop acting like the victim when you brought this upon yourself in the first place!"

"Aomine-kun! Stop being mean to Kise-kun!" a shout from the kitchen was heard.

"Huh. I'm used to people like you. I've caught enough little schoolgirls shoplifting who bawled their way out of their predicament and made me look like the bad cop! Are you planning to cry your way out of this one too?"

Kise looked up at Aomine again and was about to say something but didn't. The tense atmosphere evaporated when the landlady came out of the kitchen and started serving them tea and cakes. Aomine scoffs, gulps down his drink and stuffed a slice of cake into his mouth before asking to be excused despite the landlady's protests for him to stick around longer.

* * *

As soon as Aomine was back at his apartment, he started rummaging through the pile of gravure idol magazines under his bed. He has a lot of pent up pressure after being deprived of his sleep. Flipping to a centre spread of Risa Shimamoto dripping wet in a skimpy bikini, he unzipped his jeans and was about to start getting comfortable when he heard a knock on the door. Based on recent experience, nothing good will ever come out from opening that door so Aomine simply ignored the intrusion.

"Aominecchi–ah–kun, are you in? Can we talk?"

Aomine could easily make a guess that it was the pretty blonde guy from before but since he was already in a compromising position, he pretended to be unavailable and Kise left shortly after not getting any response from the latter.

* * *

The next morning, Aomine was all set for work and was heading towards the main entrance when he caught a glimpse of Kise's apartment door slightly ajar. The gang members must have forced themselves in and damaged the door yesterday, he thought. Aomine stopped for a bit in his tracks and walked slowly towards Kise's place to take a peek inside. He was just curious if the place had been cleaned up and it surprised him to find Kise sitting against the living room wall with the place looking as trashed as it was yesterday. Kise didn't seem to notice Aomine though. He seemed to be in a daze, staring at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. Had he been like that all night?

"Oi, what are you still doing here? Shouldn't you have packed up your things and moved into another town in case those guys from yesterday came back?" said Aomine startling Kise out of his daze.

"Huh? Ah, Aominecchi. Haha. Um, all I have now is in ruins. As much as Obaasan is sympathising with my situation, she still won't let me get away without paying for the damages done to this apartment. Fortunately, she's patient enough to wait for me to fix this mess. I will have about a couple of months to earn enough money to pay her for the damages."

"Fine then. Just don't borrow money from loan sharks anymore," said Aomine.

"I didn't borrow money from anyone! Stop saying that!" snapped Kise.

"Then what was the deal with the ruckus yesterday? You must have done something to piss off those gang members!" an annoyed Aomine snapped back.

"I… I really don't want to talk about it," said Kise as he looked away from Aomine.

Aomine rolled his eyes and was about to make his exit when Kise suddenly called out to him.

"Aominecchi, thanks again for yesterday… One of them was going to bash my face but you showed up before he had a chance to. I'll be in a lot more trouble if they hurt my face," said Kise.

Aomine guessed that Kise was starting to open up and decided to hang around for a little bit. He was still curious on why those people were after him.

"You can't handle little cuts and bruises pretty boy?" teases Aomine.

Kise blushed before he took a deep breath in and started narrating his story.

"My face is for making money… Since I'm a model. I'm still not that famous though. My agency has been unable to find much work for me lately so I haven't had much to do. But I still needed to earn a living… Then I saw this ad looking for amateur actors for an independent movie. I thought it'll be a good addition to my work portfolio so I sent my picture to the number on the ad… They called me back, saying that I got the main role. So uh, yesterday… I went to the filming location only to discover that it was at a warehouse owned by yakuza and they were actually filming a sex tape to sell for the masses… I freaked out and ran away but they caught up with me. Guess I really pissed them off for ruining their 'independent movie'…"

"Ha? What? Hahahahahaha. Why did you run? I would have never refused free sex!" laughs Aomine.

"It was GAY sex! There were two huge guys waiting to top me when I arrived! I had to save my ass!" Kise screamed back at Aomine who was still having a hearty laugh.

Aomine was almost in tears laughing and Kise regretted his decision to indulge the details with Aomine.

"So, hah. Haha. What are you going to do now?" Aomine asked.

"I plan to go out later to look for a cheap room to rent nearby. My father was transferred to Tottori for work recently so my family went along with him. Since I have work commitments here in Tokyo, I didn't go with them. I only just started living on my own here last week so it will be embarrassing for me to move back in with my family. My sisters will never let me hear the end of it!"

"Right… Why don't you just stay at my place then until all of this is over? You can sleep on the sofa. But you'll have to clean and cook and do a lot of things for me—" said Aomine without much thought.

"Eh? Aominecchi still wants to help me? You're sooooooo amazing! Yay!"

Aomine had no idea what made him invite the blonde to stay over at his place but upon seeing Kise's dazzling smile and his mood lifted up, Aomine thought that it would be too cruel to take back the offer he had just made on impulse. Well, the blonde did mention that it will only be for a couple of months and Aomine has been spending more time at work than at his apartment anyway so it shouldn't be much of a problem. If Kise starts to get really annoying, Aomine can always kick him out after having already helped enough.

"Oh, I don't think we're properly introduced yet. I'm Kise Ryouta. I'll let you call me Ryouta—"

"Kise," said Aomine as he threw his apartment key into the model's face and rushed out. He was already late for work.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note:

Rating will go up in further chapters. But as much as I would love to have Aomine and Kise getting down and dirty as soon as they move in together, they will only bring down the house in winter. That is, if I can figure out how to write smut by then. For now, I give you only fluff and feels. (ﾉ￣д￣)ﾉ

* * *

**Spring: ****A Blooming Relationship**

It was another long day at work for Aomine. His shift was supposed to end half an hour ago but he was still working on a difficult case. _The case of a little boy who lost his mother. _This one was much tougher than running after a dangerous criminal through a subway station during rush hour. The kid looked to be at least 4 years old and his constant crying for the past hour has started to annoy the hell out of Aomine. They have been walking hand-in-hand around the neighbourhood looking for anyone who can help identify the kid without much luck. The kid was useless to begin with, unable to converse properly and preferring to cry out loud instead. Aomine decided to give up and bring the kid back to police station so he can pass over his misery to someone else.

"Okay kid, let's just head back to the station. Maybe your mom is there waiting for you," said Aomine.

"WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH," screams the kid as Aomine held back an urge to just take off and leave the kid behind for someone else to deal with.

"Aominecchi!" a familiar voice called out.

Aomine turned towards the direction of the voice to see Kise smiling and waving at him frantically.

"Still working?"

"Nah. My shift is long over. I'll be heading back soon."

"And this kid?"

"Lost his mom. No longer my concern. I'm passing him over to the next person on duty."

"That's mean Aominecchi! The poor kid is clearly upset!"

"I can **HEAR** that!"

"Let me help. I passed by a nursery school just a while back. Someone there might know him," said Kise as he looked down on the kid and offered his hand. Upon seeing Kise's gesture, the kid stopped crying and stared curiously at Kise with his huge, watery eyes.

"Hey— How did you do that? I haven't had a moment of silence ever since I got stuck with him over an hour ago!"

"Heh, Aominecchi is scary-looking. And you're holding his tiny hand too tightly. It must have been painful for him," teases Kise.

The kid must have decided that he was better off with Kise as he started desperately to shake off his hand from Aomine's. As soon as Aomine released the kid's hand, the kid ran towards Kise and grabbed Kise's hand while pleading to him, "Walking –tired. Carr–carry."

Kise indulged in the kid's request, carrying him in his arms and the kid turned back to give Aomine a dirty look.

"What a shit kid," curses Aomine only to be kicked by a frowning Kise.

"Fine, do what you like. I couldn't care less. Just send him back to the station if you still can't find his mom," said Aomine as he left them to go straight home.

* * *

It was late in the evening when Kise returned to Aomine's apartment. Kise wasn't able to get any information regarding the kid from the nursery school and even when he started asking people around the neighbourhood, nobody had any idea who the kid belonged to. As it was starting to get dark, Kise decided to take the kid back to the police station feeling sorry for being useless only to find the kid's mother waiting there anxiously for news on her son.

"Aominecchi is so mean! The police on the duty said that they radio-called you to bring the kid back to the station when the mother showed up but you didn't even tell me anything!"

"Ah– I must have missed that call. Was busy watching TV," replied Aomine lazily with his eyes glued to the TV screen.

"My arms and shoulders are aching from carrying that kid around the neighbourhood for what felt like ages! At least take some responsibility and make me dinner!" demands Kise.

"Actually, I was waiting for you to come home and make dinner for me."

"No! I'm already too tired! Aominecchi should do it!"

Aomine scowled at Kise but got up anyway in a lazy manner to head into the kitchen. The annoyed look that Aomine gave Kise surprised him and Kise wondered if his constant whining has started to get onto Aomine's nerves. The last thing he wanted is to be homeless the very next day.

"Uh… Aominecchi. Maybe I can re-heat the pasta sauce from last nigh–"

"I prepared a bath for you just now. You should use it before the water gets cold," cuts Aomine abruptly.

Kise gripped his right fist tightly and was about to say something but changed his mind as by now, he can already tell when Aomine isn't in a mood for talking. He gave himself a mental note to properly apologize over dinner.

Kise was really enjoying himself in the bathtub and decided to soak in a bit longer to make the most out of it. The warm water felt really good against his tired muscles after the day's events. The relaxing mood also cleared Kise's mind causing him to recall how different his life has been since he started living with Aomine three weeks ago. Settling in was easier than expected with everything falling into place naturally. Kise found that he slept better on the sofa than on his previous bed, that Aomine can be a fun partner to watch TV with and that Kise no longer missed his family as much as when he just started living alone. The yakuza did came back a week after the first incident but upon learning that Kise had moved in with Aomine, they seemed to have backed out quietly and hasn't shown up since.

Just early that week, Kise started working part-time as a bartender at a fancy restaurant located a few blocks away from Aomine's workplace. He had decided to use his free time wisely after his agency told him that he will only have one assignment that month and nothing else. It figures that the work that he has been receiving has decreased ever since Tatsuya Himuro, a new face to the modelling industry made his debut late last year. It was a wake-up call for Kise who was used to having the world revolve around him but it also gave him the opportunity to start taking his life seriously. Since he will turn 23 this year, which is considered to be an ancient age for a model, he really has to start thinking of the other things he can do in the future once his time in the modelling world runs out. He has actually been saving up to take flight lessons since he has always wanted to be a pilot but he was still not ready to make a full commitment to that path yet. He needed more time to think it all through… Until then, he plans to stick to the things he's comfortable with such as modelling and having a good time.

Kise remembered being nervous when he first moved into Aomine's place and tried to rein in his flamboyant personality as much as he could, worried that it might tick off the other but his worries were unfounded as Aomine had been nothing but tolerant to Kise's antics. He didn't even try to boss Kise around as Kise had expected to be a man servant to Aomine, doing all the cleaning and cooking and God knows what else. Indeed, Kise owed Aomine a lot and it will destroy him to have that relationship ruined.

Dinner was awkwardly quiet that night with Aomine focused on watching TV from the dining table while eating. Kise munched on his food slowly while glancing nervously at Aomine, waiting for the right moment to apologize for his behaviour earlier.

"Ah– Aominecchi, I'll make dinner tomorrow."

"Hmm. You will. And every other night this month."

"Wha– No– I mean, okay..." Kise replied, defeated.

Aomine turned back to Kise and smirked.

* * *

Aomine woke up one night with an urge to use the toilet. After having done his business, he noticed that the TV was still on in the living room. It was almost 2 in the morning and Aomine guessed that Kise must have fallen asleep again without switching off the TV. Still light-headed, Aomine forced himself to make his way to the living room and switch off the TV. Aomine stole a quick glance at Kise sleeping peacefully under the dim light from the TV. He has a nice sleeping face, thought Aomine as he slowly dropped down to his knees next to the sofa and took a closer look at Kise. He must have been staring inappropriately for a good couple of minutes before he was snapped out of his thoughts when Kise sneezed.

Kise woke up that morning wondering where the extra blanket on top of him came from and Aomine had to call in sick for work that day after catching a cold.

* * *

"Kise-kun looks so happy lately! Is there anything good going on in Kise-kun's life right now?" asked the makeup artist, Keiko, who was patting Kise's face with loose powder.

"Ah… I guess. But I'm not going to tell you anything," Kise responded with a wink.

"Yes, Kise-kun. Keep it that way. If word gets to the media that the popular model Kise Ryouta has found the girl of his dreams, you won't have any work anymore," comments Kise's manager, Reina.

"I don't have a girlfriend Reina-san!" Kise yelled back to his manager.

"That sounds better," she quips. "By the way, make sure you clear your schedule early next month. You have been booked for a winter clothing photo shoot for Issey Miyake."

"Eh? It's still springtime and we're shooting clothes for winter now?" asks Kise.

Kise shuts himself up when his manager glared back at him.

"Ah— Since it's already springtime, does Kise-kun know that the café run by that famous pastry chef, Murasakibara Atsushi, has now started making their famous once-a-year Sakura Yokan and Sakura Mochi? Now their café is so busy, they won't entertain anyone without a reservation!" said Keiko.

"Seriously? I love those things and they only come once a year! I should find time to visit that café soon!" said Kise.

"Better be quick Kise-kun. They're only making those special treats for this week only and they're selling out really fast," she added.

Kise was already busy typing out a text to Aomine asking him what time his shift ends and if he would like to go with Kise to the café that evening. Kise's smile widened when Aomine replied with a "kay" and started pestering Keiko to help him make a reservation for two at the café that evening.

Sakura-flavoured treats aren't exactly Aomine's forte but Kise sounded very excited in his text message that he couldn't bear to flat out say that he'd rather have a bento box dinner from a convenience store to eat at home while watching TV. Kise has a way of getting what he wants and lately, Aomine has been finding himself dragged into things that he never knew he would ever do on his own. Like karaoke outings, meals at fancy restaurants and shopping for designer clothing. His life is really turning around for better or worse, thought Aomine.

"Aomine-kun's smiling face is even scarier than when he's not smiling. Was that a text from your girlfriend?" asked his colleague, Wakamatsu Kousuke.

The only response Wakamatsu received was a police walkie talkie hitting him point-blank in the face.

* * *

Kise was humming to himself as he entered the apartment thinking about how he couldn't wait to get his sakura-flavoured dessert fix that night with Aomine. When he was about to take off his shoes, he noticed a pair of 3-inch stilettos tucked neatly in a corner. It set off alarms in his head as this was the first time he felt a womanly presence in the apartment. Kise has always thought that Aomine's interaction with women were only limited to his gravure idol magazines and Aomine himself has never mentioned anything about seeing anyone. He quickly glanced around the living room and kitchen but saw no one until he heard movement inside Aomine's bedroom.

Kise wasn't sure if he was prepared for this. He didn't see Aomine's shoes so he can assume that the former isn't home yet. He took deep breaths as he slowly pushed the door that was already half open in the first place to reveal the sight of a beautiful girl with long, pink hair lying down on her stomach on Aomine's bed flipping through a magazine.

The girl was quick to react to Kise's presence and gave him a surprised look.

"Uh… I'm sorry. Who are you and what are you doing here? How did you get in?" asked a flustered Kise.

"Ehhh? I should be the one asking you all that!" the girl replied as she raised herself up to sit with her legs crossed on Aomine's bed.

"I… I kind of live here with Aominecchi."

"What? Seriously? Daiki has never mentioned this to me! How long has it been? Was it for the past month? Coz that's when I started noticing Daiki hiding something from me but every time we met up for lunch, he told me that it was none of my concern!"

Kise was surprised to hear the girl speak familiarly of Aomine which could only mean that she must have known Aomine very well. It also sounded that Aomine has been meeting up this girl quite frequently which reminded Kise of the times Aomine rejected a few of his lunch invitations due to some other 'commitment'.

"I'm Momoi Satsuki by the way. It's easy for me to get in since Daiki gave me a key to this place if I happened to be in the area. Anyway, I'm here to see my boyfriend. We're going out tonight to watch a movie and then dinner at that new restaurant in Shibuya later!" the girl announces gleefully.

Kise was speechless all of a sudden and did not even hear Aomine enter the apartment until he appeared behind him.

"Kise? What are you doing in my bedroom? Ehhh– Satsuki? What are you doing on my bed? Get off!" Aomine shooed at her.

"No, I refuse to! Daiki's bed is so comfortable!"

"Damnit Satsuki, just get off… Huh? Kise? Hey Kise! Where are you going?" exclaims Aomine as Kise breezed right in front of him and out the apartment door within seconds.

Kise was walking fast, and then running, and finally slowed down his pace as soon as he reached the neighbourhood park. He doesn't understand the sudden pain in his chest and the overwhelming feeling of sadness that came out of nowhere. What did that girl mean by boyfriend, movie and dinner? Didn't Aomine already agree to go out with Kise that evening? He flipped open his mobile phone to see if he had missed any messages from Aomine regarding a change of plans but there were none.

Kise was finding it difficult to breath and he wondered if this is what a panic attack felt like. He was starting to feel dizzy from having a number of thoughts spinning in his head. Aomine has never mentioned this part of his life. By now, Kise thought he has known pretty much everything there is to know about Aomine. His work, his likes, dislikes, habits and a bunch of things. Kise couldn't even comprehend why he ran out from the apartment and came to such a state. There was a heavy feeling in his heart, a feeling of betrayal. Why should he be this mad anyway if Aomine cancelled his plans without telling him beforehand? Kise doesn't understand what's going on anymore.

Thinking back to the earlier scene, he began to put two and two together. Aomine must be very close to Momoi since they were referring to each other by first name basis. Momoi seemed to be over-familiar with Aomine and Kise sensed the same feeling from Aomine too. Hell, she even has a key to his apartment! Kise remembered noticing Momoi's huge breasts, exactly the type that Aomine would like. She was beautiful too, Kise thought. Anyone would have thought that they were made for each other. He should have congratulated Aomine for such a nice catch.

A strong gust of cold wind blew through the park causing the blossoming sakura to fall off from the trees. It was a beautiful sight to behold but at that moment, Kise only felt like crying for reasons still unknown to him.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note:

Good call to those of you who guessed that Momoi was referring to Kuroko instead of Aomine when she mentioned 'boyfriend'. That means you're smarter than Kise. "ヽ(´▽｀)ノ"

Rough guide to the timeline:

Fated meeting happened in the first week of March. Events in the second chapter occurred in April. Spring and summer overlaps in this chapter but I'm just going to label this chapter as spring.

* * *

**Spring: ****Misunderstandings**

"Grr– Where is he?" a frustrated Aomine thought to himself as he listened to the "person is unreachable" message for the umpteenth time on his mobile phone.

He slammed the phone down onto the table before picking it up again to dial the police station.

"Oi! Wakamatsu? Have you got anything on Kise Ryouta yet? What happened to the search squad that I asked you to deploy earlier? Any findings?"

"Huh? You of all people should know that you can't file a missing person report if it hasn't been 24 hours yet. Didn't you last see him about 4 hours ago?" an annoyed Wakamatsu replied.

"But he has yakuza after him! What if he was kidnapped? I can't reach him at all!"

"We can't do anything without evidence Aomine," Wakamatsu continued. "Oh, wait, wait. I have something here! I think I just saw Kise Ryouta–"

"WHAT? WHERE? TELL ME NOW!"

"–on a TV commercial for that new Sony mobile phone–– Should we put TV Tokyo on our list of suspects now? Ahahahahahahaha––"

Aomine cursed loudly into the phone before slamming the poor phone, again, onto the table, this time catching the attention of curious onlookers around him. He is currently sitting in the café where Kise had made a table reservation for the evening. Before that, he was running in circles around the neighbourhood trying to look for him. He spoke to a few people who claimed to have seen Kise but the trail got cold and Aomine was back to not knowing where to look again. Kise wasn't replying to any of his messages and his phone was switched off. He was banking on Kise to show up at the café by some miracle but the seat in front of him remained empty.

"Ah– Ano– Are you ready to make an order?" a timid, frail-looking waiter with light brown hair and huge brown eyes asked Aomine.

"Wha? No. I'm still waiting for someone."

"I'm sorry! But– But– You have been sitting here without ordering anything for the past hour… And there is a long queue outside of people wanting to dine in here…"

"Your customer service sucks."

"Hah? No, ah– I'm so sorry!"

"Sakurai-san? Please go and serve the other tables. Let me handle this one. Oh, bring out the berry explosion cake for this table too. 4 slices for me and 1 slice for this scary-looking gentleman," said a purple-haired giant in a chef's uniform as he took the empty seat opposite Aomine's.

"Ah– I'm so sorry Murasakibara-sama!" exclaims the timid waiter as he frantically ran off to the kitchen.

"Hey, hey. Who are you? That seat's taken!"

"Murasakibara Atsushi… This is my café…"

"Still doesn't give you the right to take that seat," scoffs Aomine.

"Hmm… Did he stood you up?" he asked out of the blue.

"Wha– What do you mean? He's probably just running late like he always does! He was the one who wanted to come here in the first place!" grunts a flustered Aomine.

Sakurai arrived shortly with the cakes and Murasakibara started digging in while gesturing at Aomine to take a bite too.

"I saw that this table was reserved for Kise Ryouta. I know him, that famous model right? He comes here quite often with his work colleagues," mumbled Murasakibara with his mouth filled with cake. "I can understand how you feel… I have a model boyfriend too. They tend to be quite fickle, must be because of their job, always out drinking and partying– One minute they will declare their everlasting love for you and the next minute they will start yelling that they hate you. Hai–– Such a headache…"

"We're NOT in that kind of relationship. We're just flatmates."

"Oh? But you're planning to take that route right? Since you're both already living together and sorts–"

"NO. He'll be out once his own place is fixed."

Murasakibara wasn't really paying attention to what Aomine was saying as he started rambling on about how his current lover, some model by the name of Tatsuya Himuro, would rarely come home nowadays, how he doesn't trust the people hanging around him and so on. It came to a point that Aomine begged to be excused as he couldn't take listening to the stories of another person's troubled love life any longer.

Instead of heading straight home, Aomine decided that it was best for him to hang out at the police station in case any news on Kise comes in. Plus, he still wants to kill Wakamatsu for his stupid joke earlier.

* * *

It was probably about 5 in the morning when Kise arrived back home after having been kicked out from his manager's place. Initially, Reina was reluctant to let Kise in as she didn't like having uninvited guests over but seeing Kise's sorrowful face made her feel bad about leaving the young boy out in the cold. Kise fell asleep in the guest room immediately but was woken up by Reina early in the morning as she has changed her mind about getting involved with Kise's problem and advised Kise to sort out his own mess without involving others.

Kise quietly tucked into his makeshift bed on the sofa when he heard Aomine's bedroom door creak open.

"Daiki? Is that you?" a soft voice called out.

Kise pretended to be asleep, covering his head completely with the blanket and hoped that she will back away but he can still hear the sound of her footsteps coming nearer.

"Eh? Kise-kun? You're back! Did you come back with Daiki?"

Kise pulled down the blanket halfway on his face to stare at Momoi. What did she mean by Aominecchi not being here? Didn't they both spend the night together?

"No… I came back on my own. I was at a friend's place... Where's Aominecchi?"

"He ran off looking for you after you took off like that! What happened? Was there an emergency? Is something wrong? Daiki was really worried!"

"No… Nothing's wrong. Aominecchi was looking for me?"

"Yeah, since you left. He hasn't come back since. I should give him a call now that you're safe and sound here," she continued as she went back into the bedroom to search for her phone.

Kise sat up confused.

After making the call, Momoi went into the kitchen to make a cup of green tea for Kise.

"Daiki is on his way home now. Seems that he spent the night at the station waiting to hear any news from you. He told me to check for any injuries on you. What does he mean by that?" Momoi asked.

"I don't know... Momoi-san didn't go on a date with Aominecchi?"

"Date with Daiki? Ewwww. No! What made you think of that?"

"You came here saying that you're seeing your boyfriend… For dinner and a movie."

"Aaah– You mean Tetsu-kun? Ummm, yeah, we went out! It was soooo much fun! He gave me this bracelet as a gift! He is such a romantic! I'm so happy right now!" blushes Momoi as she showed Kise a 'Hello Kitty' bracelet on her right wrist.

"Er… You can get that bracelet for free if you purchase a McDonald's Happy Meal…" said Kise, still confused.

"Yes, how did you guess that we went there for dinner? He's amazing right?"

"But you looked as if you're dressed for dinner at a fancy restaurant–"

"And then we went to watch Despicable Me 2 with his class of students–"

"Students?"

"Yes, he's a kindergarden teacher at a nursery school nearby. He brought along the kids for dinner and movie too as part of a school activity," Momoi continued excitedly.

"Eh? You call that a date?" yells a bewildered Kise.

"Um, yeah?" nods Momoi. "Ah– Good thing I'm up now since I have a train to catch early this morning for Osaka. I'm currently living and working there– Tetsu-kun still wouldn't let me stay for the night at his place so I can only sleep here. When I arrived yesterday, Tetsu-kun wasn't home yet so I decided to hang out at Daiki's since they're both living in the same building."

"This Tetsu-kun lives here?"

"Uh-huh. Apartment Number 4 downstairs."

"Wait, that's next to my apartment! I didn't even know there was anyone living there! I thought it was unoccupied!"

"He's been living here for the past three yea– Daiki! That was quick! Did you run all the way back?" asked a surprised Momoi when Aomine came busting through the front door looking haggard and miserable.

"KISE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" growls Aomine as he stomps towards Kise, ignoring Momoi's unanswered question.

"Aominecchi– Uh, I, I–" his words cut off as Aomine collapses on the sofa, his face onto Kise's lap.

"Shit, I need to sleep. Wake me up at 7," mumbles Aomine and just like that, he was already fast asleep.

"Hmmph, Daiki is so inconsiderate sometimes! That sofa isn't big enough for two people to sleep on! Ne– Kise-kun? Do you want to use the bed? I won't be needing it anymore," laments Momoi.

"I'm fine like this Momoi-san… Thanks…" replied Kise while running his fingers softly through Aomine's hair before wincing at Aomine drooling on his lap.

* * *

The following night, both Aomine and Kise finally made it to Murasakibara's café.

"I didn't know Aominecchi is good friends with the café owner! I asked my colleague to make another reservation on my behalf for tonight and she said that the café was fully booked all week! But then Aominecchi managed to get seats at the very last minute!" exclaims an excited Kise as they were led to their table by a waiter who couldn't stop apologizing as soon as he saw Aomine.

"Umm… Not really. Don't ask anymore," replied Aomine as he recalled Murasakibara giving him his personal contact number the previous night in case Aomine needed a favour or any sort of help.

"Ah– Mine-chin. Welcome back," said Murasakibara as he appeared with two plates neatly stacked with their limited edition Sakura Yokan and Sakura Mochi. "I've even prepared a box filled with our best sliced cakes for you guys to take away. Everything is on the house too to celebrate Mine-chin's and Kise-chin's reunion so please enjoy," he continued with a wink before giving them their privacy.

"Eh? What did he mean by that Aominecchi?" asks Kise anxiously.

"No idea. Anyway, you still haven't explained your behaviour last night, so talk."

Kise wasn't exactly prepared for this. He didn't dare confess that he might just have inappropriate feelings for Aomine which caused him to get upset upon hearing that Aomine has a girlfriend even though that wasn't the real case. For that moment, going with a half-truth should be the safest option for Kise.

"About that– I thought Aominecchi made plans with Momoi-san and forgot all about our dinner plans," he mumbled, focused on nibbling his Sakura Mochi.

"But you switched off your phone, didn't reply to any of my messages and didn't come back till morning. What gives? I _always_ forget our dinner plans but this is the first time you ran out on me," Aomine asked firmly at a fidgeting Kise.

Kise was starting to lose his appetite over this conversation. He wondered if this was how the caught criminals felt when Aomine interrogated them at the station. What else can he say to end this once and for all? That he was jealous of Momoi when he wrongly thought that she was Aomine's girlfriend? Why was Kise feeling this threatened about another girl in Aomine's life anyway?

"….. I was really worried you know," said Aomine while gazing at Kise intensely.

"Eh? Aominecchi is worried about me?"

"I thought that the yakuza caught you for good this time and I won't see you again until the sex tape is released."

"GAHHH AOMINECCHI! YOU WERE THINKING OF THAT THE WHOLE TIME?"

A short distance away, Murasakibara couldn't help but be amused with watching the duo's antics.

* * *

Aomine and Kise had just arrived at Shin-Osaka Station after taking the Shinkansen from Tokyo on a hectic Sunday morning. They were both scanning the crowd for a hint of pink hair before spotting Momoi waving at them at a distance.

"Daikiiii! Kise-kun! Tetsu-kun! Welcome to Osaka!" she shouted excitedly.

"Tetsu-kun?" asked Kise.

"Yeah, he's right behind us," replied Aomine coolly.

"Ehhhhh? Since when?" Kise turned around to come face-to-face with a blue-eyed pale boy with light blue hair standing right behind them. He was of smaller build compared to the both of them and his eyes has an icy, distant look to it.

"Didn't we all leave the apartment building together this morning?" said Aomine.

Kise could only give Aomine a horrified look. He hadn't noticed there was a third person all along.

"I'm sorry if I had startled you Kise-kun but I'm Kuroko Tetsuya, your neighbour when you first moved in," Kuroko nodded to Kise.

"Ah right, Momoi mentioned that before. Err, I've never actually seen you around before. This is my first time. Pleased to meet you Kuroko-kun…"

"This is not my first time meeting you though. I've always greeted you almost every morning when you were taking out the trash."

"Uh, huh… I must have not noticed you…"

"I'm not offended Kise-kun. I'm actually used to it. In fact, when you were harassed by the yakuza when you first moved in, I tried to help out by reasoning with them but was ignored. It's a good thing that Aomine-kun was around to save you."

"Ri—right. Gosh, I'm truly sorry for never noticing you Kuroko-kun!" Kise apologized clasping both his hands.

"Oi Satsuki? What train should we take now to go to this uh—Universal Studios?"

"Just follow me— We need to change stations a couple of times but we should get there within half an hour," said Momoi confidently as she started pushing her way through the crowd with the guys tagging along obediently. "And oh, Kise-kun. Thanks for letting us come with you!"

"No problem," replied Kise with a grin.

While it was an off day from work for Aomine, Momoi and Kuroko, it was actually a work day for Kise. He was booked for a photo shoot that morning at the Universal Studios in Osaka. When Momoi heard that Kise was coming to Osaka, she begged him to bring her along as she has always wanted to see what goes on behind the scenes of a fashion photo shoot. Aomine was only there because Momoi forced him to and Kuroko was an unexpected surprise.

As soon as they arrived at the theme park, they were issued special passes at the main entrance and were told to make their way towards the Hollywood area where a section of it was reserved for the photo shoot and closed to the public. There were make-shift tents set up at the location and a number of people were busy moving things around, setting up props, cameras and artificial lighting.

"Oi Kise, will there be any beautiful female models today?" asked Aomine with a grin.

"I'm not sure Aominecchi. We're shooting _menswear_ for Issey Miyake's autumn/winter collection after all," Kise rolled his eyes.

Upon reaching the set, the makeup artist, Keiko, was quick to snatch Kise away from them as she started getting him ready in one of the tents.

Momoi, Aomine and Kuroko were pushed to one side as more people turned up and the place started to get really busy. Kuroko was in a world of his own observing the buzz around them while slurping on a vanilla milkshake, Momoi was simply excited to be there and Aomine was bored to death. It must have felt like centuries for Aomine when he caught sight of Kise walking back towards them looking… Amazing. He looked completely different to how Aomine was used to on a daily basis. Kise obviously had makeup on but it only served to enhance his best features such as his eyelashes and his hair was styled differently, side-swept to make him look young and fresh but still polished with an aura of maturity.

"Sorry for the wait guys! We'll be starting as soon as my photo shoot partner is ready!"

"You have a partner for this shoot Kise-kun? Is it anyone famous?" asked Momoi excitedly.

"Ah—yes, you might know him if you're up-to-date with the latest fashion news Momoi-san. I'll be working with—"

"Ryouta," a voice that belonged to a tall guy with slick, black hair covering his left eye called out from one of the nearby tents. The guy has a tiny beauty mark under his right eye and he has a refined, cool look to him.

"OHMAIGOD HIMURO TATSUYA!" shrieks Momoi like a fangirl on crack as she hyperventilates and started rummaging through her handbag for something to get an autograph on.

"I'm a fan! Please sign this!" Momoi bows shyly with a small notepad in front of Himuro.

"Ah, sure. Anything for Ryouta's friends. It's a first time to see Ryouta bringing friends to work," he said smiling at Kise.

"I thought it'll be nice to have my friends here for support Himurocchi. I'm quite nervous about today's shoot. I've never worked with such a renowned fashion designer before and I don't plan to screw up!"

"You'll do fine Ryouta," said Himuro as he held out his hand to run his fingers through Kise's bangs. "Hmm, you should go back to the hair stylist and ask for more volume. Your bangs are looking flat at the moment," he continued.

"Right— I'll head on to the back again to get it fixed. It was starting to bother me too," comments Kise as he turned around to make his way back to one of the tents only to be pulled aside roughly by Aomine.

"Oi Kise. What was that? Isn't that guy a rival who has been stealing all your work? Why are you being so friendly to him?" asks an annoyed Aomine.

"Don't say that Aominecchi! I have a lot of respect for Himurocchi! He has taught me a lot of things since I've first met him. He's far more experienced than me too. He may have only debuted last year but that was only in Japan! Before that, he lived abroad and was walking the runways in Europe for years!"

"But still—"

"Problem Ryouta?"

"Ah sorry Himurocchi! I'm on my way to get my hair fixed now," Kise apologized quickly.

"I'll go with you. We need to discuss what we're going to do for the photo shoot as well— Ah, please excuse us. We're working here and you guys shouldn't get too close to the set," Himuro smiled smugly at Aomine.

Aomine was tempted to punch Himuro in the face but chose not to.

* * *

The after-party celebration for wrapping up a successful photo shoot was held in a VIP room of a renowned stylish bar in Osaka's Minami area and despite the free flow of drinks, Aomine wasn't enjoying himself at all. It bothered him that Kise was being very friendly towards a guy he was constantly whining over back at home for reducing the amount of modelling work he was getting. It also bothered him that Kise was still drinking a lot despite being unable to handle alcohol very well. Aomine was aware the Kise has an active social life but he was never part of it until today. It had always just been the both of them which was by far more enjoyable compared to this large crowd of noisy, drunken people. Honestly, Aomine _hates_ this part of Kise's life and he has never felt so out of place in his life which made him regret coming along in the first place. Momoi and Kuroko seemed to be doing just fine but that was only because they have each other in the first place so there was no pressure on them to try and fit in with this crowd.

"Aomine-kun, we should get going soon if we're going to catch the last Shinkansen to Tokyo," said Kuroko.

"Yeah, I know. I have work tomorrow too and this party sucks. Wait outside with Momoi while I try to grab Kise," said Aomine as he turned his attention towards Kise who was seated on the other side of the room with Himuro.

Aomine glared at Kise who seemed to be having a good time laughing with the rest of the group. Kise was red-faced from having too much to drink and was being more than his usual bubbly self, thanks to the alcohol kicking in his system. Himuro has his arm around Kise's shoulders and was leaning close to Kise, whispering something into his ear which caused Kise to giggle like a high school girl in love. Too close, Aomine thought. And doesn't that Himuro guy has Murasakibara waiting for him at home? What a jerk.

Aomine stepped forward towards the model duo and grabbed Kise's arm, trying to shake him loose from Himuro.

"Hey, hey. What's your problem? Give me back my beloved Ryouta," Himuro said in a drunken manner.

"We have to get back to Tokyo by midnight," grunts Aomine.

"You do but he doesn't. Let him stay," Himuro rebuked.

"Let me staaayyyy Aominecchi," a drunk Kise echoed Himuro's remark as he found release from Aomine's hold and then proceeded to throw himself back into Himuro's arms.

Himuro was hugging Kise tightly by then, refusing to return Kise to Aomine and their drunken antics was starting to piss Aomine off.

"Let's just go Aomine-kun. Kise is a big boy. He can find his way home on his own," remarks Kuroko tugging Aomine's shirt.

"But–" Aomine was interrupted by the loud sound of cheers and whistles in the room as he turned around to see Kise and Himuro sharing a deep, wet kiss.

* * *

For a whole week after that incident, Aomine gave the silent treatment to Kise who couldn't remember what he had done wrong to suffer Aomine's wrath.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note:

I've increased the rating to M due to the first paragraph I've written for this chapter. I'm still trying to build up their relationship so all I have to offer for now is more feels and angst. (︶︹︶) By now, Kise should be aware of his true feelings and Aomine is still dense as ever. They are the baka couple after all.

Events in this chapter are set in June.

* * *

**Summer: ****Drifting Apart**

Aomine was seated on the edge of his bed and feeling _really_ good.

Turning down his head to look at the source of his pleasure was Kise's head bobbing and taking in Aomine's length hungrily.

"Shit, you're really good at this Kise," groans Aomine.

"Mmm hmm," moaned Kise as a response.

"Ah—haaaa, I think I'm going to come now, com—ing, ngghhh–shit," curses Aomine as he released his load into Kise's mouth and felt a great sense of relief overcome him at the same time.

"Huh? Mmm hmmph," Kise moaned as he caught the cum in his mouth and tried to swallow all of it down into his throat.

Aomine was breathing heavily as he stared back at Kise who looked both dazed and satisfied with his lips moist and swollen from the mix of drool and cum.

"Ah— Aominecchi is still hard— I think you can put it in me now."

"Put… It in you? Put it—where?" asked a confused Aomine.

"In my slick, greedy hole," cooed Kise with an insatiable lust in his eyes.

* * *

Aomine woke up with a shock and found himself staring at the empty ceiling of his bedroom.

"Shit," Aomine thought. "Not another wet dream."

Forcing himself to get up, he cursed the stickiness in between his legs. He hasn't been with a girl for so long that he was starting to have Kise in his wet dreams instead of the usual beauty with huge boobs. I haven't had much time to jerk off lately too, he thought sadly to himself.

Grabbing his phone, he scrolled down the list of contacts before selecting 'Mai' to send a text message to. "Wanna do something later after work?" he typed out before hitting send. 'Something' meaning have sex of course. Mai is a colleague based at another station and she had always had a thing for Aomine back in their days at the police academy. Aomine has never refused an offer to get laid even if it meant nothing to him.

Just as Aomine was about to use the bathroom, a message came in and he opened it to read "Ahhh—I'm so sorry Aomine-kun. I actually got myself a boyfriend last week so I can't do you any favours now. Do you want me to give you my friend's number?"

Aomine deleted the message and cursed his bad luck even more.

After thinking it over, he thought that his best option was to take a cold shower before heading out to work.

* * *

Kise woke up that same morning to the sound of the front door slamming shut as Aomine left for work.

They haven't been on talking terms ever since they got back from Osaka almost a month ago. For unknown reasons, Aomine would no longer talk to him unless it was absolutely necessary and he has also been turning down every invitation from Kise for an outing together. A week ago, Kise had cornered Aomine in the kitchen demanding an explanation for his strange behaviour but Aomine only brushed him off, telling Kise that there was nothing wrong and that he was just imagining things.

Aomine's cold attitude was a mood breaker for Kise. He felt that he was better off avoiding Aomine grouchy mood nowadays. He decided to spend more time outside the apartment either taking extra shifts at his bartending job or hang out at his model agency, lounging around and hoping that some work would be thrown onto his lap.

Kise was about to get some more shut-eye after a late night shift at his bartending job when his phone buzzed with a message from the agency, telling him to come over quickly for a last-minute photo shoot for a fashion magazine. Kise stretched himself before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower. He wasn't exactly in the mood to do anything that day but any distraction from his current dilemma is more than welcome.

* * *

Kise's photo shoot took a much longer time than expected. Kise wasn't able to give his best and halfway through the shoot, his manager called for a time-out and pulled him aside for a brief scolding.

"We're not getting enough good shots Kise-kun! You look like you hate wearing the clothes on you right now but unfortunately, you don't have much choice but to sell them! Our client actually asked me if I have any other male models on stand-by just in case they don't plan to use any of your pictures!" Reina yelled at Kise behind the set with Keiko standing beside Kise to defend him.

"Maybe Kise-kun needs a short break? The photographer said that he's willing to wait for Kise-kun to get it together while he convinces the client for a change of concept. The client is also at fault here for such a terrible photo concept request—like how can you take good pictures while hanging upside down over a monkey bar?" Keiko pleaded to Reina.

"That's NOT my problem! He's the model and he should just work it!" Reina snapped back.

Kise wasn't really paying attention to what Reina and Keiko were arguing about as his mind started to wander off again until Reina smacked his head lightly with a magazine.

"Are you having the same problem as the last time you came to my place in tears?" Reina asked. "I thought that it was already resolved. Is it happening again Kise-kun? This is why work and personal matters should not mix. It's not professional at all."

"Ah—right, sorry Reina-san, Keiko-san… I guess I do need to get some fresh air. When I come back, I promise to put my all into the shoot," Kise grinned even though he was falling apart inside.

Kise bawled his eyes out in the men's room for a good 10 minutes feeling sorry for himself. His mood was only lifted up when he found Keiko waiting for him outside with a gentle smile, hugging him while giving him death threats for ruining the makeup she had put on him earlier. After a quick fix, Kise was back in working mode without any more issues. The client was more than happy with the final shots and booked Kise to do two more photo shoots for them that month.

Kise returned home to find a note from Aomine saying that he was staying over at a friend's place for the night. Being by himself in that apartment reminded him of how lonely he felt when he first started living out on his own without his family as he cried himself to sleep remembering how badly he missed them.

* * *

Aomine was leaving for work when he glanced at Kise on the sofa, sound asleep. He has been doing a lot of late night shifts for his part-time job lately, Aomine thought to himself.

He opened the front door just in time to reveal the landlady standing in between two blonde beauties. The first one was a beautiful lady with long, wavy hair and was dressed elegantly in branded clothing. Aomine took notice of her huge boobs but flinched when he felt her commanding presence. The other one was slightly shorter than the former with her hair tied into a cute bun and looked much friendlier than the first blonde. Everything about her is cute from her accessories to her ruffled, pastel-coloured dress which made Aomine wonder if this is what Momoi meant by 'Sweet Lolita' fashion. The same girl was also carrying a large sketchpad in her arms.

"Aahhh— Kise must be having another one of his wild parties and this stripper police officer is just about to leave. I guess we arrived at a good time," said the smaller blonde as she grinned at Aomine.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm a _real_ police officer."

"Who is this?" the first blonde turned to ask the landlady.

"This is Aomine-kun and Kise-kun is living in his apartment," the landlady replied with a wide smile.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PRECIOUS RYOU-CHAN?!" the first blonde turned to Aomine in horror while the other one was no longer smiling.

"Wha—I don't understand… Who are you people?" Aomine asked although he has a feeling that he might know the answer to that question judging from how much these two resembled Kise based on their looks.

"Sorry for the intrusion Aomine-kun. My name is Rika and this is my elder sister, Ryoko," said the smaller blonde politely. "We're looking for our little brother, Ryouta… Is he around?"

"WHAT IS GOING ON? We were here when we helped him move in the first time! Isn't his apartment downstairs? How did he end up living with you instead? What is your relationship to Ryou-chan? How come we were not told of this?" Ryoko bombarded Aomine with questions.

"Kise's sisters? Umm, he's still sleeping inside…" Aomine answered nervously to Rika preferring to respond to the less crazy one.

"Hmm… Ah—Aominecchi, why is it so noisy outside?" a sleepy voice called out before Kise came to the front door in just an oversized T-shirt in place of his usual pyjamas.

"KYYYAAA! Ryou-chan is wearing a boyfriend shirt! Kawaii-desu! I am sooo drawing this hot scene for my next doujinshi release!" Rika squealed as she started fanning herself with her sketchpad. "Did he use handcuffs on you last night?" she asked innocently.

Shit, they're both crazy, Aomine thought.

"Oneesan? What are you two doing here?" Kise asked in a surprised tone.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYOU-CHAN!" Rika announces as she jumps onto Kise to give him a bear hug.

"We took the day off so we can come here to check up on you. Mom and dad sent their birthday wishes. We haven't heard anything from you at all ever since you started living on your own…" said Ryoko as she glared suspiciously at Aomine.

"Sorry Oneesan! I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the time!" Kise apologized as he glanced at Aomine nervously.

Aomine could guess that he didn't belong in this family reunion and mumbled an "okay, they can come in and I have to go to work now" to Kise before he took off in a hurry.

As soon as Aomine was gone, Rika quickly asked Kise gleefully "Is that Ryou-chan's new boyfriend?"

"No, no. We're not like that. I'm just staying at his place temporarily until my apartment is fixed," Kise replied.

"Speaking of your apartment Kise-kun, the repairs has been completed about a month ago. I thought you would know. You should tell me if you don't plan to move back in so you can stop paying the rent and I can find a new tenant," said the landlady.

"Ah—sorry Obaasan! It hasn't crossed my mind all this while! I'll let you know soon," Kise replied.

The landlady nodded and wished Kise a Happy Birthday before she left Kise and his sisters on their own.

"Aiyaya, Ryou-chan seems to be living with a scary-looking guy. He wasn't very friendly no?" Rika asked.

Kise didn't answer and muttered something about wanting to take a shower first.

* * *

Aomine made it just in time for work despite a late start to his day. He had just received a message from Momoi asking him if there was any chance that Aomine and Kise could come down to Osaka to celebrate Kise's birthday together. Just as he was about to text Momoi that he was working that day, Aomine received another message from Kuroko asking what Aomine has planned for Kise's birthday and if Kuroko can be part of it.

"I'm surprised Aomine-kun didn't take the day off today. So there's no birthday celebration for Kise Ryouta today?" teases Wakamatsu.

"Shit, how come the whole of Japan knows that its Kise's birthday today except for me?" snaps Aomine.

"Aomine-kun… Doesn't know? Hahaha. Kise Ryouta is a popular idol, of course that kind of information is available to the public. So now that you know, do you plan to skip work and leave me here all on my own?" he asked with a pout.

Aomine only grunts as a response and started to clear the paperwork on his desk, determined to drown himself in his work and nothing else.

* * *

Kise was glad that his sisters came to spend the day with him. He had nothing special planned for that day so he was cool with anything his sisters wanted to do in Tokyo. They started out in Ginza where Ryoko spent hours shopping for branded goods before they took off to Shinjuku for lunch at a high-end sushi restaurant. They then made a quick stop to Ikebukuro for Rika who needed to look for more doujinshi to add to her massive collection at their house followed by a trip to Sumida Aquarium to watch cute penguins do backflips in the water. The siblings had one hell of a day just being silly and having fun. Their final stop was Murasikabara's café for afternoon tea and cakes while they rest their tired feet from walking all day.

"Ryou-chan still seems down no? It's your birthday, cheer up a bit," said a worried Rika as she pushed a cupcake towards Kise, gesturing at him to have it.

"Has Aomine-kun mistreated you Ryou-chan?" asked Ryoko suspiciously.

"Oneesan! There's no such thing! I'm just feeling tired from working too much lately! Aominecchi isn't a bad guy so stop putting him down!"

"Hmph. I doubt it. You weren't even this upset when Haizaki Shougo dumped you last year," Ryoko continued.

"There's nothing wrong with me Oneesan! Stop asking!" snaps Kise as he slammed down his fists onto the table while trying to hold back the tears forming in his eyes.

Ryoko and Rika only looked at each other and sighed, giving time for Kise to collect his thoughts.

Kise only spoke after he finally managed to get a hold of himself.

"I… I really like Aominecchi… He was good to me in the beginning but… But now, he seems mad at me for some reason. I tried asking him about it before but he said that it was nothing… I… I don't like this…"

"Do you think you have overstayed your welcome Ryou-chan?" Ryoko asked.

"Over…Stayed?"

"I think what Ryoko meant was that you have been taking advantage of Aomine-kun's kindness for far too long and now that he feels that he has done enough, he's sort of trying to send you a message that it is finally time for you to move on," Rika explained.

"I… I've never thought of that… He could have just told me directly…"

"Maybe he didn't want to be seen as the bad guy if he asks you to leave. It would be much easier if you leave on your own accord," said Rika.

"And since you're not in any sort of relationship with Aomine-kun, that means he is as straight as it gets right? Maybe with you being there, he hasn't been able to have his privacy and have his own fun… Like bringing a girl over," Ryoko added.

That does make sense, Kise thought. He has a feeling that Aomine has been meeting up with girls from time to time but he has never actually brought one over to the apartment.

"So… If Ryou-chan needs help moving out, we're both here to assist! It'll be much quicker that way," said Rika.

Kise bit his lower lip, thinking hard on whether he should be discussing this with Aomine first. But then again, they haven't exactly been on good talking terms lately and Kise worried that Aomine will just ignore him again. Maybe Aomine has been acting the way he is because he is starting to find Kise to be a burden to have around. Kise knew that it doesn't take much to tick Aomine off and he mentally scolded himself for being so selfish the entire time.

"Right… I guess if Oneesan still has time before catching the night train to Tottori, both of you could help me carry my things back to my old apartment."

"Anything for our beloved Ryou-chan—" both sisters answered in unison.

* * *

It was almost midnight when Aomine finally returned home from work. He was ordered by his superior to go to one of their stations in Yokohama late in the afternoon to help them out for a bit since they were short on staff for that evening. At least I'll be getting some overtime pay this month, Aomine thought to himself.

The first thing he noticed was how neat and tidy his apartment is before it hit him that Kise's stuff were no longer around. He scanned the apartment just to be sure when he saw his spare key taped to a note on the dining table.

**_Aominecchi,_**

**_Thanks for looking after me this whole time. I'm moving back to my apartment downstairs. Feel free to drop by anytime._**

**_Ryouta_**

Aomine dropped himself on the sofa while reading Kise's note over and over again, trying to make sense of it. It never crossed Aomine's mind that Kise would move back to his old place this soon. He did say it was for a couple of months, Aomine recalled. But it still bothered Aomine that Kise would have just left without at least giving him the heads up.

Aomine was about to check up on Kise right then when he realized that it was already past midnight and Kise might have already been asleep. Plus, his sisters might still be with him and they didn't seem to be too fond of him. As he picked up the remote control to switch on the TV, he remembered that he bought a birthday cake for Kise on the way home. It was something that he thought of at the very last minute since he didn't get the chance to wish him a happy birthday earlier during the day. Annoyed that he no longer had a use for the cake, he decided to finish the cake off by himself while watching TV since he was still hungry anyway. Despite having the TV on, it was only then that Aomine realized how quiet his apartment is without Kise.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note:

This turned out to be a really long chapter. The story is still set in summer (mid-July to mid-August) and we can't enjoy summer without going to a festival at least. ＼（ ´−｀）人（´▽｀ ）／

Just to help you understand some terms, the Aomori Nebuta Festival is a very colourful festival of giant floats made up of paper held every year for a whole week in the beginning of August. The city of Aomori is in the northern part of Honshu Island and can be reached via Shinkansen (bullet train) within 3.5 hours from Tokyo. Kakigori is shaved ice with syrup on top.

More fluff this time. This is also the last chapter for summer as we change seasons to autumn next when the chapters will start to get more serious.

* * *

**Summer: ****A Short-Lived Reunion**

A month after Kise left his apartment, things began to fall back to the norm for Aomine. His wet dreams are back to normal, he has full rights of his sofa once more and he can walk around naked in the apartment without offending anyone. The summer temperature has hit a new high and Aomine was standing in front of his fridge with its doors open trying to absorb its cool air. The fridge is empty again, he noticed. That was usually not the case when Kise used to live with him as the former took his grocery shopping seriously and there will always be something edible in the fridge that Aomine can get his hands on whether it be cold udon noodles or sweet cakes. There was now a different feel in his apartment with the living room being much quieter than before as Aomine recalled how Kise has always liked to keep the TV on even when he was asleep and how his bathroom no longer has the sweet lingering scent of Kise's shampoo.

While Aomine had always thought that having a guest around is a chore, he had never felt that way with Kise and missed having him around. Aomine had tried knocking on Kise's door twice that month only to be disappointed to find that he wasn't at home both times. Part of Aomine felt guilty that there weren't on the best of terms when Kise had left and he was eager to patch things up with Kise out of respect for their friendship. Once, Aomine had gone to the restaurant where Kise was doing part-time as a bartender hoping to catch the former. Despite it being an expensive restaurant, it was still fully packed with people and Aomine wasn't able to get a sit on the bar. He was led to a small table in a far corner just next to the kitchen and upon opening the menu, he found that he can only afford the appetizer and a small glass of beer. He caught sight of Kise working at the bar but he was too busy tending to his customers, most of them female patrons, to notice Aomine waving at him a few times to catch his attention. Aomine was then forced to leave after a waiter informed him that he wasn't allowed to stay for very long if he's not planning to order a main course.

* * *

Kise had memorized Aomine's work schedule by heart and would stand by the window of his apartment with an energy drink to watch Aomine leave for work. It became a daily routine for Kise ever since he moved back into his own apartment. For the past month, that was the only contact he had with Aomine, albeit not a real one. Catching sight of Aomine leaving for work will always boost Kise's mood for some reason and that alone was enough for him to look forward to the day itself. However, for the past few days, Kise had been disappointed that he hasn't caught sight of Aomine at all despite it being the usual time for him to leave the place for work. Maybe he has a change in his work schedule for summer, Kise thought sadly to himself.

Work has actually been hectic for Kise lately. The number of photo shoots he was doing was at a record-high for that month and he has started to get a good number of offers to star in TV commercials. Just that morning, he had received a message from his agency that he had been cast for a small acting role in a prime-time drama for at least three episodes. With the amount of work that he's been getting, Kise pondered on the thought of quitting his bartending job so he can free up more time for himself but since the tips he was getting from that job was about as much as he earned for his modelling work, he felt that he should hang on to the job for a while longer. Kise was glad that his financial situation seemed more promising this around and that he has even reached the amount of savings he needed to pay for his future pilot lessons.

Kise gulped down the last of his energy drink and popped a couple of caffeine pills in his mouth as he prepared himself to head to the agency for a magazine photo shoot. He hasn't had much rest lately from the amount of work he has been doing, both modelling and bartending, but he didn't like coming home to an empty apartment either. Kise has always been the kind of person who thrives on human interaction and now that he is back to living by himself, he really missed being in the company of others.

* * *

Aomine was woken up from his afternoon nap from the loud buzzing of his phone.

"Daiki! I just sent off Kise-kun from Shin-Osaka Station. He should be reaching Tokyo in a couple of hours so can you check up on him? He didn't look well just now so I told him to go straight home and rest," said Momoi.

"Wha—? What is he doing in Osaka? And why should I even bother?" he mumbled sleepily into the phone.

"He was shooting a TV commercial this morning in Namba— I managed to meet up with him for lunch. I tried calling Tetsu-kun but he wasn't picking up and then I remembered that you've taken a month off from work for summer. I'm worried, Daiki. He looked very weak just now and since he's staying alone—"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'll see what I can do," he mumbled back before he hung up and was out of his apartment within 10 minutes.

* * *

Aomine was never a patient person when it comes to waiting for people so he was feeling rather restless at the meeting spot as he watched people coming in and out from the station. He had texted Kise earlier informing him that he'll be waiting near the main exit to walk home with him but he hasn't received any reply of acknowledgement from Kise.

Just as he thought that Kise might have taken a different stop and is not planning to come home yet, he heard a brief commotion at a distance before he saw the station guards running towards the stairway with a stretcher. Out of curiosity, he decided to take a look on what was going on only to see an unconscious Kise being lifted onto the stretcher and carried towards the station's main office.

"Hey, hey. What happened here?" he called out as he ran after the guards.

"Oh, is he your friend sir? He fainted back there and hit his head on the floor," one of the guards pointed towards the stairway. "We're taking him to our office first to see what we can do for him."

Aomine tagged along unsure on how he could lend a hand in this situation.

At the office, a senior guard thought that it was best to call for an ambulance since Kise was still not responding.

Aomine hoped onto the ambulance with Kise after thanking the station guards for their help and telling them that he can take it from there. In the ambulance, Aomine had tried calling out to Kise a number of times without getting a response which only made Aomine worry even more.

As soon as they arrived at the nearest hospital, Kise was brought into the ER where a guy with straight black hair dressed in a white tunic and long white trousers was waiting with a medical record chart in hand.

"Oi, get some help here will you?" Aomine snapped at the guy.

"Please calm down sir. I'm Takao Kazunari, one of the nurses here. I'll be handling his triage before I can arrange for a doctor to see him," he answered politely.

"Eh? A male nurse? What happened to the pretty female nurses?" Aomine asked.

"I am the only one who is free to see this patient for now so just bear with me sir," said Takao as he threw an annoyed look at Aomine before he started getting to work, taking Kise's blood pressure and temperature before setting up an IV line in Kise's forearm and connecting him to a fluids drip.

Aomine was getting irritated that a doctor is still not in sight yet and just as he was about to tell off Takao, the curtains to their cubicle were pulled aside to reveal a bespectacled tall man with green hair wearing a white lab coat over light green scrubs. He had a serious, stoic expression and there was a tennis ball stuffed in his right pocket which Aomine couldn't figure out the purpose for.

"What happened here?" he asked in a grim manner.

"Shin-chan— It said here that he fell down from the stairs after he fainted at the train station. He hasn't woken up since but there are no external injuries and all his vitals are normal with the exception of a higher than normal body temperature, 38.3 degrees Celsius…"

"Oi, are you sure that you measured that right? He's burning here!" snaps Aomine with his hand touching Kise's forehead.

"I'm _sure_. Shin-chan— This guy here is Aomine-kun, he came with the patient… Would it be better if I tell him to wait outside?" he asked through gritted teeth as he glared daggers back at Aomine.

"He can stay…" said the man in the white lab coat as he adjusted his glasses to take a closer look at Kise's medical charts before turning his attention to Aomine to introduce himself. "I'm Midorima Shintarou… The doctor assigned for this case. Could you please step back a little so I can check the patient properly?"

Aomine released his hand from Kise's forehead but only took a couple of steps back.

"Hmm… For those born under the Gemini sign today, they will need to take extra care of their health as their immune system can be weakened by a number of factors… I say that this patient has a fever coupled with exhaustion."

"Oi, oi! What kind of a diagnosis is that? Can't you see that he's unconscious here? Shouldn't you do a CT head scan for him to check for any bleeding in the brain?"

"I think he's just sound asleep Aomine-kun," said an irritated Takao.

"But—"

"I don't see much that we can do here. The patient can stay for the night at the hospital but I also don't see any problem for the patient to be discharged right now as long as he gets an adequate amount of rest and nutrition. I will only be prescribing paracetamol to bring down his fever and a few hydration tablets. And his lucky item for today is a penguin."

"What the fu—"

"So would you like me to admit the patient into a ward or—"

"I'm not letting Kise stay here with you wackos!"

"Let me call a taxi then," said Takao with a gracious smile.

* * *

Kise woke up a few hours later to a sharp pain in his head before his eyes start to focus at an unfamiliar ceiling. He could tell just by staring at the ceiling that he wasn't in his apartment although the place has a nostalgic feel to it for some reason. He closed his eyes for a bit to recall the last thing that he could remember but all he could come up with was that he had just arrived at the train station when the world went pitch black. His body was feeling hot and uncomfortable when he noticed that there was a wet towel on his forehead.

He tried to move around a little and as he turned to his left side, he came face-to-face with a giant poster of a scantily clad gravure idol on the wall. Based on that, it only confirmed his suspicions that he wasn't at his own place and he can even make a good guess on where he is at that moment. He tried hard again to recall how he ended up on Aomine's bed and why there was a stuffed penguin on his chest but came up with a complete blank. Since he was still feeling very weak, he thought that it would be best to be content and not think too much into it.

He closed his eyes and was about to drift back to sleep when he heard the bedroom door creak open. Not long after that, he felt the wet towel on his forehead removed before it was replaced by a new, cool towel.

"Aominecchi?" Kise called out weakly as he opened his eyes.

Kise's voice surprised Aomine who was just about to leave the room quietly and he rushed towards Kise's side in a panic.

"Kise? You're awake! I was starting to worry—"

"How did I get here?"

"I went to pick you at the station when I found that you fainted there," Aomine answered softly.

"Fainted? Station?"

"Yeah, Satsuki told me that you weren't feeling well and that I should check up on you…"

"Oh… Sorry… I didn't mean to trouble anyone," Kise apologized. "But uh, thanks Aominecchi."

"I got the weird doctor to speak to your manager and the owner of the restaurant where you worked. He convinced them that you should be resting for a week at least. The restaurant said that you've been working a lot of shifts lately so they have no problem with you not coming in for a while… And that they have other part-timers that they can use. Also, your manager, Reina-san stopped by as soon as she heard about what happened to you but you were still sleeping... She left a while ago but she did mention that she's willing to let you off the hook for the next two weeks since you've been working too hard recently," Aomine said.

"Ah—that's not good…"

"Just rest Kise. Anyway, I made some chicken soup in the kitchen but it might not be very good—"

"I'll be happy to have it Aominecchi," Kise said with a weak smile as Aomine excused himself to grab the soup for Kise.

When Aomine returned with the soup, Kise only took three spoonful of it before declaring that it was too horrible to take in anymore.

* * *

Kise regained most his energy by the next day and decided that he was well enough to return to his apartment on his own despite Aomine's protests.

It's for the best, Kise thought to himself.

* * *

A couple of days later, Kise was bored out of his mind with nothing to do but flick through channels on his TV in the living room. He had called his manager to tell her that he wanted to do some work but Reina dismissed him immediately by saying that he was on a two week compulsory leave before hanging up on him. He tried his luck with the restaurant but the owner said that they are managing fine on their own and didn't need any part-timers for a while. Kise was about to go into hibernation when he heard a knock on his door. Thinking it was the landlady checking up on him again after having been worried to hear about his fainting episode, he opened the door grudgingly to come face-to-face with Aomine.

"Aominecchi? What are you doing here?"

"Since you're not doing anything this couple of weeks, do you want to join me for a trip to my grandparents? They live in Aomori— I have two train tickets. It was meant to be Satsuki and me since she wanted to go to the Nebuta Festival this year but she ended up changing her mind at the very last minute… Something about going on a romantic getaway to Hokkaido with Tetsu."

"Momoicchi is going on a romantic getaway with Kurokocchi?"

"Hmmph, I doubt it. Tetsu is taking his students for a school trip to Hokkaido… Satsuki decided by herself that she should go with him."

"Uh— I'm not sure if I should…" said Kise hesitantly.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun! You could use a holiday! Summer in Aomori is better than being here in Tokyo! The festival this year is going to be twice as big compared to previous years and there're doing fireworks around the Aomori Bay too! You can't miss it!" exclaims Aomine excited. "And you don't even have to pay for the train ticket. That's Satsuki's loss."

"I guess if Aominecchi insists… Then I can't say no," said Kise.

"Good! The train leaves in 2 hours. Pack up whatever you need now."

"Ehhhhh? 2 hours?"

* * *

They made it just in time to catch the Shinkansen to Aomori after running the whole way from their place to the train station. Kise tried to catch his breath as soon as they boarded safely on the train after overexerting himself from running with two heavy luggage having just recovered from his fever. Packing took him awhile since he couldn't decide on what clothes to wear while in Aomori before Aomine started throwing random clothes into his luggage and telling him to hurry up. He didn't understand how Aomine could just fit a week's worth of stuff in just a single duffle bag. Kise had to bring along two suitcases, a small one for his toiletries and skincare products and a medium suitcase for his clothes and accessories.

Kise fell asleep from exhaustion with his head leaning on Aomine's left shoulder throughout the 3.5 hour journey to Aomori.

They arrived at about 7 in the evening at Aomori Station and Kise stood at the main exit in awe at the decorations put up around the city and the festive feel in the air. The place was crowded with people in a festive mood. There was a night time parade going on nearby when they arrived but Aomine pulled him aside to wait for the bus instead.

"The festival just started last night and it will go on for the rest of the week. Don't worry about missing it now, we can catch it again on other nights," Aomine grinned. "We'll take the bus to my grandparents' house first. We can explore the area tomorrow."

Kise only nodded as he let Aomine take the lead. It was a rare sight to see Aomine in such a good mood but it must be because he's close to home now, Kise thought.

* * *

After the 20-minute bus ride, they had to walk for another 5 minutes before they reached the wooden gate of a large traditional Japanese house. As they walked through the gate, Kise saw a group of kids playing in the house compound at that time of the night and as soon as they saw Aomine walk in, they dropped everything and ran towards Aomine, greeting him loudly as they fight each other for his duffel bag. It took them a while before they realized that Aomine had not arrived alone and they started to stare curiously at Kise while whispering excitedly among themselves.

"Hey, carry my friend's stuff in too will ya? This is Kise by the way…"

"I SAW YOU ON TV LAST NIGHT!" yelled one of them excitedly. "Was that really you? Ah— Haagen-Dazs ice-cream, the new chocolate cookies flavour."

"Ha— Yeah, you could be right. I didn't know that they started running that commercial already," said Kise, embarrassed with the attention.

"You're very tall… And pweeetty," said a tiny boy who was missing a few front teeth as he stared at Kise in awe.

"Ah—Mako-chan, I'm tall too!" said Aomine to his little cousin.

"Yaaa… Oniisan is tall too… But not pweeetty—" said the kid before Aomine smacked him hard on the head.

"Obaasan! Oniisan is here!" screams a little girl as she ran into the house before reappearing with an elderly lady with a friendly smile on her face.

"Ah—Dai-chan, it's been a long time since you visited…" she said before turning to Kise and was taken by surprise. "Eh? Isn't Sat-chan supposed to come with you?"

"Satsuki had other plans and couldn't come this year. This is Kise Ryouta, we live in the same apartment complex," Aomine introduced Kise who bowed nervously to the elderly lady.

"I see… I actually prepared a room for Sat-chan and was worried about where to put you. Most of our relatives are here so the house is quite crowded… I was going to ask you to sleep with the kids in the other room but since Sat-chan isn't here, I guess you both could share that room together… I'll tell your aunt to prepare two futons in that room," she continued with a pleasant smile.

Kise had no problem at all with getting along with everyone that night. The kids took an instant liking to Kise and stayed close to him out of curiosity. He was also popular among Aomine's female relatives who couldn't stop fawning over Kise all night.

"Kyaa! I can't believe Dai-chan has such a famous friend!" said a female cousin of Aomine.

"Actually, I can't believe Dai-chan has friends other than Sat-chan—" said another.

"You look so much better in real life!"

"Are those eyelashes for real?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Why is a top model like you staying in a run-down place like Aomine's?"

Aomine rolled his eyes after he realized that he wasn't the star of the show for that night. Even his grandmother was smitten by Kise, asking him a lot of questions about his family and what kind of food he likes so that she can make them for him during his stay here. He was also ignored by his favourite 4-year old cousin, Kyo-chan, who usually couldn't stop crying whenever Aomine left them for Tokyo. Kyo-chan is now sleeping soundly on Kise's lap. After feeling invisible for a good half an hour, Aomine decided that he might as well just turn in early for the night.

* * *

Aomine woke up the next morning to the sound of giggles and whispers of "hang in there" and "so cute" from his younger relatives peeking in through the sliding door of their room. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was a head of blonde hair and it took him a while to realize that the pillow he was hugging tight was actually a human being, Kise to be exact. Although Aomine could only see Kise's back, he could easily guess that the former was wide awake.

"Nggh, Kise? Why are you sleeping on my futon?"

"YOU are on my futon," Kise squeaked. "Get off me. You're heavy. And you're drooling in my hair. I need to take a shower. I think everyone in the house is already up except for us."

It took a while for Aomine to process what was going on at that moment before he released his grip on Kise.

Once he was released, Kise quickly grabbed whatever he needed and made a quick exit for the bathroom hoping that Aomine didn't notice that he was blushing deeply.

* * *

Kise spent the next few days exploring the city and local sights with Aomine and his relatives. He had been living in a city for so long that it was a nice change of scenery to be close to nature for once. He was also starting to really feel the summer heat since they were spending a lot of the time under sun. The only part of the outings that he didn't enjoy at all was when Aomine dragged him out to join his little cousins to catch bugs.

"YOU BRING THAT MONSTER NEAR ME AND I SWEAR I WILL TAKE THE NEXT TRAIN BACK TO TOKYO!" yelled Kise while trying not to look at the live cicada Aomine was holding out to him.

"Oh, come on. It doesn't bite. Touch it. Try holding it for a while."

"No! I refuse to! That thing used to be a worm and I hate worms!"

"You're wrong Kise. It's not a worm and, uh—" said Aomine as he crouched on the ground to release the cicada before he started to scramble around for something. "This one is a worm," he continued while holding a wriggling worm that he had just picked up from the ground with a grin and proceeded to throw it towards Kise.

"UWAHHHHHH!" screams Kise when the worm hit his arm and he ran as fast as he could back to the house amidst Aomine's great amusement.

"Oniisan! Stop bullying Kise-kun!" scolds a couple of Aomine's younger cousins as they ran after Kise to check up on him.

Aomine was definitely having the best summer of his life.

* * *

Aomine returned home that same afternoon to see his aunt tending to a sorrowful looking Kise while his grandmother was waiting by the door with her hands crossed ready to give Aomine a good scolding for bullying Kise.

"Dai-chan, apologize to Kise-kun right now! He tripped himself and hurt his right ankle when he was running back to the house!" scolded his grandmother.

"Ah—sorry, sorry," giggles Aomine before he became concerned. "Is it bad?"

"Just a sprain plus some small cuts and bruises when he hit the ground. You're lucky he didn't hurt his face. Ah— Poor Kise-kun will get in a lot of trouble if something happens to his face," sighs his aunt.

Kise kept quiet and continued to sulk the whole time.

"Anyway Dai-chan, I'm sure by now Kise-kun has seen pretty much everything in the area. Have you brought him to the festival yet? The last day is tomorrow," his uncle asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I thought that we could check out the festival both tonight and tomorrow but it seems that it'll only be tomorrow since he can't really walk right now. Tomorrow will be good anyway with the boat parade and fireworks display at night."

"But tonight is the last night for the Nebuta night parade as they're announcing the winners tonight! Kise-kun is missing all that!" quips a small cousin.

"Oniisan is meeaaannn…" a few of his young relatives spoke out.

"Why are you all so nice to a person you've only just met? I've known you guys since you were born!" lashes out Aomine to his small cousins.

"Because oniisan is meeaaannnn…" they all answered in unison.

Aomine was outnumbered and didn't see any point in fighting a losing battle.

"Ne—Aominecchi, I think I can still walk. Let's all go out to see the night parade," said Kise to the loud cheers of Aomine's young relatives.

"But didn't you sprain your ankle—"

"I'll be fine Aominecchi," Kise said with a weak smile as Aomine's little relatives rushed to him to help him up.

* * *

While Aomine was dressed casually in a white singlet, khaki shorts and slippers, Kise was wearing an indigo-coloured yukata with a striped design that he had borrowed from Aomine since he forgot to pack one for himself. Since Aomine was bigger than Kise, the fabric hung loosely on him although it still fitted Kise well.

"Kyaaa! Kise-kun is definitely a model! You look so good in traditional attire! Maybe you should keep the yukata. It's such a waste on Dai-chan!" said a female cousin while everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Oi, oi," Aomine grunts at his female relatives as he gestures at them to shut up and back off.

They took the bus into the city for the night parade and saw that the place was fully-packed with people and the festive atmosphere felt more intense. It took them a while before they could find a good spot to watch the Nebuta floats pass by the designed route. Aomine was having a tough time keeping an eye on his small relatives who were running all over the place and Kise who was constantly being stopped by girls who wanted to take a picture or ask for an autograph when they recognized him as the model Kise Ryouta.

"Ah— I lost him again," Aomine grumbled to himself while he caught one of his little cousins who was about to jump in front of a passing Nebuta float.

After bribing the kids with kakigori and making them promise to stick together at their set meeting point, he started to make his way through the crowd to search for Kise.

Fortunately, Kise always stood out in a crowd so he was very easy to find. Aomine found him by the sidewalk taking pictures with his fans. Aomine was quick to pull Kise away from his fans while ignoring their insults for disturbing their private moment with Kise. That was when an idea hit Aomine when he noticed a stall selling masks and decided to buy one for Kise.

"Wear this," Aomine ordered Kise while handing him a Pikachu mask.

"Eh? What for? I won't be able to see where I'm going,"

"That way, people will stop asking if you're the model Kise Ryouta. We need to keep walking ahead and you're slowing us all down," Aomine insisted as he puts the mask on for Kise.

Kise didn't protest much after noticing Aomine's annoyance and apologized a few times.

They spent the rest of the night going around the festive stalls that they ended up missing the last bus back home. Since both of them didn't have much money with them, they couldn't afford a taxi for all of them and decided to just walk back home. The walk itself from the city centre took almost one hour and it felt much longer when they had a bunch of disgruntled kids with them complaining about being tired from walking and how they are already sleepy.

"Oi Kise, what's taking you so long? My 3-year old cousin is walking much faster than you," Aomine shouts out to Kise at the back.

"If Aominecchi had lost his memory recently, let me remind you that my sprained ankle still hurts from all that walking around," said Kise.

"I told you we should do this tomorrow but you insisted on tonight. The blame is on you," said Aomine. "We still have quite a bit to go and its past the kids' bedtime, their parents will be worried so we really need to move on quicker."

"Hmph, right," grumbles Kise as he tried to mentally push the pain away and increase his walking speed.

Despite his efforts, Kise was still lagging behind and Aomine had to turn around to get him.

"Oi Kise, get on my back."

"Ehhh? Aominecchi?"

"I'll carry you. You're too slow," Aomine insisted as he gestured at Kise to climb onto his back.

"But— But— I might be too heavy—"

"Just get on Kise. I don't have all night. Or morning," he said glancing at the midnight sky.

Kise had his doubts at first but gave in anyway while feeling embarrassed with how useless he had been.

"Hmm… Weird, you're about the same height as me but you don't feel heavy at all," teases Aomine. "Are you on a diet again?"

"I eat just fine Aominecchi," replies Kise who was extremely grateful that it was too dark for Aomine to notice his blushing face.

Aomine's back felt warm against Kise and was comfortable enough for Kise to fall asleep on by the time they reached home. Kise never woke up, clearly exhausted from that day's events.

* * *

Kise woke up in the morning to realize that he had been tucked into his futon still dressed in the yukata from the night before. His last memory was being carried home on Aomine's back as they made their way home but he didn't remember arriving back to the house. He turned towards his left to see Aomine sound asleep, drooling and snoring lightly.

As he watched Aomine sleeping, Kise started to think about how bad the current situation is for him.

**_I've fallen hard for Aominecchi._**

For the past week, Kise had clung on to Aomine and the latter had not once pushed him back. Aomine had been nothing but good to Kise and it was the kind of moment that Kise wished could carry on forever. Maybe it won't be a bad idea to stay here and not go back to Tokyo. Aomine could ask for a job transfer and Kise is more than willing to forget all about modelling and even his dream to become a pilot if it means that he gets to stay close to Aomine.

**_You're being unfair Aominecchi._**

While dating a guy isn't something new to Kise, it will mean a whole different thing to Aomine. Aomine has always had his mind in the gutter and is completely oblivious to the feelings that Kise has for him. While Kise could not help but be grateful for every single act of random kindness from Aomine, Kise was aware that the other had thought nothing of it and considered it to be something he would normally do, not necessarily just for Kise's sake. Kise recalled the hard time Aomine gave him after they got back from Osaka from his fashion photo shoot and wondered how he could easily forgive and forget the incident just because he could never hate Aomine at all. He replayed his sisters' advice in his mind that if he can stay out of Aomine's life long enough, time will allow him to get over his infatuation and he can carry on with a normal life rather than hang on to something that wasn't meant to be. Kise thought that he had succeeded after he had moved out from Aomine's apartment and avoided any contact with the former only to have been saved _again_ when he got sick and have the feelings return twice as strong as before that he was now completely reduced into a puddle of emotions. He wished he had kept his guard up when he woke up in Aomine's apartment but there wasn't much that he could do then. He thought that he had made the right move when he refused to be taken care off any longer by Aomine when he was sick but Aomine decided to show up again in Kise's life and mess it all up. Kise is now forever trapped in his own unrequited feelings, too weak to do anything about it.

Kise wondered what else will be in store for them now since they will be returning to Tokyo the very next day. Will they still have the chance to spend time like this once they return back to Tokyo? Or will they carry on to become two complete strangers?

"Hnngh, Kise? Is it morning already?" asked a sleepy Aomine snapping Kise out of his thoughts.

"Ah Aominecchi? Yeah, yeah. It's morning already. I should get up now!" said a startled Kise as he attempted to hide the fact that he has been staring at Aomine's sleeping face for quite a while.

"How's your ankle?"

"I don't feel any pain anymore."

"Ah— That's good then. Today is the last of the festival and you can't miss it. Boat parade later in the afternoon followed by fireworks in the evening. It'll be fun," said Aomine with a smile that made Kise's heart skip a beat.

Kise tried hard not to blush but failed miserably at it as he mumbled a "sure".

* * *

Aomine insisted this time that he will only be taking Kise to the festival and that his small relatives aren't allowed to tag along but could still go by themselves with the other older relatives. He tried to justify it by mentioning something about how he couldn't enjoy the festival at all the previous night when he was babysitting a bunch of babies at the same time. One of his female cousins snickered that Aomine is going on a date Kise and Kise turned into a bright shade of red when everyone started teasing him to watch his back since Aomine wanted to keep him all to himself for the day. This time they are both in yukatas and Kise left behind his mask because it will be too hot to wear one during the day.

They made their way to Aomori Bay where the boat parade and fireworks display were held and found the place to be even more crowded than the night before. Kise had to hold onto Aomine's arm sleeve the whole time to avoid getting lost in the sea of people. They only managed to catch a glimpse of the boat parade before deciding that they are better off doing other things and ended up wandering around the festival stalls picking up snacks and souvenirs. At one point, the heat started to get too unbearable for Kise that he suggested that they wait out in a nearby dessert restaurant while waiting for the fireworks display to start in the evening.

As it was starting to get dark, they started looking for a good spot to view the fireworks with Aomine dragging Kise around in circles. Once they did find a good spot, they decided to camp there for a bit until the fireworks display start but then got annoyed as more people started showing up at the very same spot that the place ended up being no longer worth it. The crowd started to get larger and people are now pushing and shoving each other to make space for themselves. Kise found himself constantly shoved into Aomine as they started to move again elsewhere. They were walking together through the city area towards the bay when they stumbled across a wide billboard of Issey Miyake's fall/winter menswear featuring Kise and Himuro. Kise made Aomine stop and gleefully asked him to help him take a picture of himself and his own billboard.

"One more Aominecchi!" grinned Kise as he posed beside his own picture on the billboard.

Aomine went along with Kise's request begrudgingly before he returned Kise's phone back to him so he can check the pictures that Aomine has taken. As Kise was scrolling through the pictures, he noticed Aomine starring at the billboard and decided to mess around with him.

"Ne— Aominecchi, what are you staring at? Is there something that you like?" he teased.

"Hmm… Nothing really. Looks quite ordinary to me," he scoffs.

"Oh come on Aominecchi! You have to admit that we looked really good! This is the best thing that I have on my work portfolio."

"You look like you're out on a date with Himuro at a theme park and that's just plain stupid."

"That was the concept of the photo shoot! And it's not stupid."

"_Two guys._ That's just something wrong with that picture. Why not a male and a female model? Makes more sense."

"It's for a menswear collection. Having other female models in the picture would be too distracting. Plus… What is wrong with two guys having a good time?" Kise asked annoyed.

"Just— Just something awkward about it! I don't like the idea all! And Himuro is too touchy-feely here—" Aomine snaps back as he pointed at a picture of Kise and Himuro seated on a bench with the latter leaning towards Kise's ear to whisper something.

"What about us? How are we any different from that picture?!" Kise snaps back.

"Wha— Why is it about us now? We're nothing like that! We're not in a weird relationship or anything," said Aomine brushing off Kise's question.

"Weird… Relationship?"

"Yeah, we're just friends aren't we? No way will we ever do anything as lovey-dovey or touchy-feely as that. That's just plain disgusting," Aomine carried on oblivious to the sudden change in Kise's mood.

"Disgusting… You say… So you really won't ever see me that wa—" Kise's sentence was cut short by the sound of the first set of fireworks released into the sky.

By then, Aomine has completely turned his attention to the display of fireworks in the sky cheering along with the rest of crowd, unaware that his words had just hurt Kise's feelings.

* * *

It was only after they had gotten off the bus and were strolling towards the house that Aomine noticed that Kise had been quiet all night. In fact, he hadn't heard a word from Kise ever since they argued about the billboard. It had only been Aomine doing most of the excited chattering while Kise gave a nod or two in response.

"Oi, Kise. Why are you so quiet? Didn't you enjoy the festival?"

Kise was walking with his head hung low and only mumbled something that Aomine couldn't quite catch.

"Oi, oi, Kise. Is something wrong? You haven't said anything for a while. Is your ankle starting to hurt agai—?"

"I'm fine Aominecchi. I'm just not in the mood."

"Hey, if there is something you're unhappy about, might as well just let me know right now okay? I hate all this sulking without a reason that you often do," said Aomine annoyed.

Kise stopped his steps abruptly and clenched both of his fists while staring hard at the ground.

"… I… I really like… Aominecchi."

"Huh?" said a confused Aomine.

"I like Aominecchi."

"Of course you do. You wouldn't be hanging out with me if you don't," Aomine laughs.

"It's… It's different."

"Oi Kise. What are you mumbling about no—" said Aomine when his sentence was suddenly cut short by Kise grabbing the collar of his yukata and pressing his lips softly against Aomine's.

The first thing that Aomine did was to push Kise back before he placed his fist over his mouth to avoid any further attacks.

"Wai—Wait… What was that about Kise?" he asked even more confused.

"That kind of 'like'," said Kise, almost in a whisper as he stared back at Aomine.

"I… I… I don't understand any of this! Since when—"

"Probably since you asked me to live with you."

"But— But… I was just—"

"It's okay Aominecchi," said Kise with a sad smile. "Thanks for not punching me in the face for doing that to you," he continued as he walked past Aomine to head on to the house.

Aomine never returned to the room they shared and Kise slept on his own that night.

* * *

While Aomine was still slightly shaken by the previous night's incident, Kise was all smiles and acted as if nothing had happened. Aomine's relatives were all gathered at the train station to bid them off farewell and one of his little cousins was bawling his eyes out refusing to see them leave.

As soon as they boarded the train, Kise asked if he could sit by the window this time to which Aomine obliged to. For more than half of the journey, no words were spoken between them and Kise was just staring out the window enjoying the scenery while losing himself in his own thoughts before Aomine decided to break the awkward silence.

"Ah— Kise, I'm sorry if I've ever given you the wrong idea… I remembered when you kissed Himuro back in Osaka—"

"I kissed Himurocchi? Haha. I can't recall it at all. We must have both been really drunk," Kise chuckled, eyes still focused at the scenery outside the window.

"I guess you were… But uh, about this feelings that you have for me… I'm not sure what to say about it. Like uh, aren't you interested in girls at all?"

"It never mattered to me if the subject of my affection was a man or a woman. I've had girlfriends in the past… And a boyfriend too…"

"Boyfriend? You already have experience in this kind of relationship before?" Aomine asked surprised by this new revelation.

"Hmm… Yeah. We're both in the entertainment business. Lead singer of a band… He dumped me when his band started hitting it big late last year. It was also about the same time Himurocchi made his debut in the modelling industry and my work was severely affected… Then my father had that work transfer… And everybody left. I rented a cheap room for a couple of months before I finally moved into a proper apartment…" muttered Kise with a sad tone in his voice. "Ahh— I guess I've used up all my luck. I'll just have to make the best of what I have now. Haha."

"Kise…"

"Don't feel bad Aominecchi," Kise turned to Aomine with a smile. "You've done enough… Thanks. I'm just glad I let it all out. Now I feel so much better."

"Kise…"

"You don't have to go all out for me anymore Aominecchi. This is why I left your place too. I knew these feelings will end up unrequited… And I can't force this burden on you for my own selfish needs. We can still hang out from time to time… Let's bring out Kurokocchi and Momoicchi too!"

Aomine was rendered speechless and they both fell back into a comfortable silence for the rest of the journey back to Tokyo.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note:

HaiKise is my guilty OTP. Nuff' said.

The events here occur on 30 – 31 August.

* * *

**Autumn: ****Love Rival**

"…And that was what happened," said Aomine as he downed a large glass of beer while facing a bored-looking Momoi.

They were both seated opposite each other in a busy ramen restaurant in Osaka. It was incredibly rare for Momoi to have Aomine looking up for her seeing how it has always been Momoi who would be the one making the extra effort to check up on Aomine from time to time. So it came as a big surprise for her when she left her workplace to find Aomine standing outside the main entrance of the building waiting for her to finish work. He had been waiting since noon, he said. Momoi thought that Aomine was in some sort of trouble but she felt relieved when Aomine only wanted to talk about the summer that he just spent with Kise back in Aomori.

"Uh-huh. So?" Momoi asked infuriated.

"Oi! You always made it your life mission to tell me how to do things so tell me what should I do now?! Can't you see what is wrong with the picture here? Kise has _feelings_ for me. How am I supposed to respond to that?"

"I've always suspected that he had a thing for you…"

"And you know that… How?"

"Woman's instinct."

"I'm not a woman," scoffs Aomine.

"Of course you're not. You're just a natural born idiot. You would have never guessed it but I _knew_ from the first time I met Kise at your place. Anyway, Daiki is also to blame for leading him on and giving him false hope."

"Wha—? How am I the wrong one here? Oi Satsuki! I took time off just so I could come all the way here to Osaka to get some good advice. Don't tell me you have absolutely nothing for me."

"I won't tell you anything then… Because I have _nothing_. I can't help you anymore Daiki. How about you leave this as it is? It sounds to me as if Kise-kun is trying his best to move on from you but you're not making it any easier for him! You've clearly hurt his feelings. Just… Stop. Kise-kun seems to be the type that will put his all into a relationship and he deserves to be with a good person. Currently, you don't fit that profile at all so back off!" snaps an irritated Momoi as she swung her handbag over her shoulder leaving Aomine behind to start using his own brain for once.

Please make up soon, Momoi thought sadly to herself as she pushed the door on her way out.

* * *

"Kise-kun has been on top form lately ne—" gleams Keiko as she put her finishing touches to Kise's eye makeup.

"You think so? That's only because Reina-san has been managing my work schedule so well that I've nothing to worry anymore but show up whenever she wants me to," Kise said winking at Reina.

"Hmph, don't get it over your head too soon Kise-kun. While we're definitely getting a steady demand for you lately, there's still much to worry over your future. I will be meeting a few representatives from Shiseido next week… They might want to sign you up on a 2-year contract as the spokesperson of their men's skincare line. That's one hell of a lucrative contract and I hope that you'll get it. It will make life much easier for you after that. You can even quit that bartending job of yours. "

"I'm way ahead of you for once Reina-san. Tonight is my last shift at that restaurant," grins Kise.

* * *

"We'll miss you Kise-kun, it's not often that we can get the chance to have someone like you making our drinks," said one of the female patrons seated on the bar.

"I'm so upset that Kise-kun is no longer working here so keep those drinks coming—hic—" said another female patron who has had too much to drink.

"Haha. Thanks everyone for taking such good care of me. I really appreciate thi—"

"One Raspberry Margarita, Ryouta," a familiar voice called out to Kise causing him to almost drop the bottle of vodka that he was currently holding in his hand.

Kise turned towards the owner of the voice to come face-to-face with his former lover, Haizaki Shougo, with his messy, light gray hair tucked under a casual hat seated on the bar with a crooked smile directed at him. He was wearing aviator sunglasses despite it being almost midnight and that the lights in the restaurant were quite dim anyway.

Kise made the drink that Haizaki ordered without a single word and proceeded to ignore him while he tended to the other customers, all the while feeling nervous as he felt Haizaki's intense gaze on him throughout his whole shift.

It was closing time for the restaurant at 2 in the morning but Haizaki was still seated on the bar for the past couple of hours, waiting for Kise to finish his shift. Kise cleaned up as fast as he could while he plotted an escape plan in his head when Haizaki spoke up.

"Don't you dare run away from me Ryouta. I'm here for you," said Haizaki as the warning sent a shiver down his spine.

Kise didn't say anything and as soon as he was finished with his chores, he rushed to the back of the restaurant to grab his things from the locker and hoped that the owner has not locked the back exit yet. As he looked at his locker one last time to make sure that he hadn't left anything behind considering it was his last shift and all, a hand slammed the locker door shut in his face startling Kise.

"This place is strictly for employees only. How did you get in here?" said Kise through gritted teeth as he glared angrily at Haizaki.

"I told your boss that I'm here to pick you up. Make sure that you get home safe and sound. He told me to come to the back here. Heh."

"What do you want exactly?"

"You," Haizaki growled in Kise's left ear before he licked his earring.

* * *

"Damn—ugh—still so tight," moans Haizaki as he rammed his hard length violently into Kise while leaving a trail of kisses on Kise's long neck.

"Wait—Shou—go-kun—plea—se—not so hard—ah," pleaded Kise with his tear-stricken face as he felt a sharp searing pain in his entrance.

"Huh? I thought that you like to take it rough?" said Haizaki as he thrusted in even harder causing the bed to squeak under them while he devoured his mouth to muffle out Kise's desperate pleas for him to be gentle.

Kise couldn't stop crying until it was all over.

* * *

Kise woke up to the sound of someone turning on the shower in the bathroom. He twinge at the sharp pain that he felt radiating from his back and proceeded to shift around a bit to make himself more comfortable. He has lost almost all feeling of his lower body and it was only then that he noticed his own nakedness. He struggled to find cover for himself as he thought of how he got there in the first place. He remembered following Haizaki back to his hotel room after he got off from work and they ended up doing the nasty as soon as they walked through the door. Haizaki wasn't patient enough to prepare Kise well and it ended up being a horrible experience for Kise.

"Ah, good morning Ryouta," Haizaki greeted him cheerfully as he walked out naked from the bathroom while drying his hair with a towel.

Kise wasn't in the mood to think or even say anything.

"Are you angry Ryouta? Heh. I didn't realize how out of practice you are… Haven't you been doing it with that police officer?"

"Police officer?" Kise asked as he looked up curiously at Haizaki.

"Hmph. I met Himuro the other day and when I asked him if he had seen you around, he said that you're living with that guy… Ah—Aomine?"

"…I don't live with him anymore. That was sometime ago. And we're not in any kind of a relationship," said Kise.

"Heh. Good then. Makes it easier for me."

"Easier?"

"Yeah… We're getting back together right?" said Haizaki as he climbed back onto the bed to crush their lips together.

* * *

Kuroko was taking out the trash early that morning when he saw a pale-looking Kise walking into the apartment complex looking tired and in a daze.

"Good morning Kise-kun. Did you just come back home from work?"

"Ah… Kurokocchi… Good morning… No, not really. Was at a friend's," he answered without looking directly at Kuroko.

"You look miserable," said Kuroko as he took notice of the angry love bites scattered around Kise's collarbone.

"Really? Haha. I guess. I should get some sleep then since I've got nothing planned for today," replied Kise with a weak smile.

"Kise-kun, Momoi-san is coming up from Osaka and we're going out to celebrate Aomine-kun's birthday tonight. Would you like to come along?"

"Nah… Sorry. I… I have something to do—"

"But you just said that you have nothing to do today—" said Kuroko as Kise simply ignored him and walked past him towards his own apartment.

* * *

Aomine has found himself in a strange territory. Since Momoi was of no help to him, he had poured out his grievances to Wakamatsu at their workplace only to be surprised that the latter actually had some pretty good advice for him.

"Hmm… Why don't you do some research on how this kind of relationship works? Download some gay porn off the Internet or find a gay couple to talk to? If you think you can handle it, why not give it a try? Plus that Kise Ryouta is so hot, I wouldn't mind tapping that fine ass—" his words cut short when Aomine threw a phonebook into his face.

While it wasn't his first time to be in the rated R-18+ section of a DVD rental shop, it was definitely his first time browsing through shelves of gay porn DVDs. He was having goosebumps just looking at their front covers but he finally decided on a DVD titled "Fatal Erection" featuring a dark-skinned stud with a young blonde.

While he fidgeted nervously as he placed the DVD on the checkout counter, the female cashier was all smiles as she took his payment while placing the DVD into a black plastic bag and then saying "enjoy your movie sir". Aomine could only afford to give a horrified look in return.

As soon as he returned to his place, he quickly locked the door behind him, shut all the curtains in the living room and prepared himself mentally before he placed the DVD into his DVD player and switched on the TV.

He only lasted for about 10 minutes. He wasn't turned on at all and he couldn't even understand how the two guys on-screen could get it on and enjoy whatever it is they were doing. Aomine thought of himself and Kise and wondered what roles they would take.

"Of course I'll be topping," Aomine thought to himself. "No way am I going to take it up the ass!" he shivered at the thought.

As he wasn't planning to finish watching the DVD, he switched off the TV and stared at the ceiling wondering what he should do next. That was when Murasakibara came to mind and he started typing out a text message asking for a meet-up on his mobile phone.

* * *

When Aomine entered Murasakibara's café that afternoon, he scowled when Himuro called out to him cheerfully from a seat by the window.

"Aomine-kun! Over here!" waves Himuro with a big smile plastered on his face.

"Wha? What are you doing here? I'm supposed to meet up with Murasakibara."

"I know. He was the one who told me to talk to you. Oh, I heard it's your birthday today too… So happy birthday," said Himuro as he pushed a plain-looking box towards Aomine.

"Uh… Thanks… I can't believe that you got me a birthday present… What's in it?"

"Everything you need. Condoms, lubricants, a couple of vibrators, a few sex toys…" said Himuro in a sing-song manner. "I was going to get you handcuffs as well and then I remembered that you actually have real ones. Lucky you. So uh… Are you both doing it tonight?"

"Gah? What? We're not doing anything! And… And who do you think I'll be doing it with anyway?"

"Aren't you and Ryouta an item? No? I would have thought tonight would be a good time since it's your birthday and all… It'll be a nice way to celebrate…" teases Himuro with a flirty wink.

"Damn, why am I even having this conversation with you? Wouldn't it be better if I talk to Murasakibara about this—"

"Because I would know better Aomine-kun. I'm used to taking the lead in bed anyway so I know what I want... What Ryouta would want… Plus, I think it's cute that you're actually making some effort to prepare for Ryouta…"

"We're not in that kind of a relationship! I… I don't even know if I plan to!"

"Then what's with the sudden interest with all things gay then?" Himuro asked surprised.

"I just… I just want to get some idea on what Kise has been through. Since he's been in this sort of relationship in the past…"

"Oh…"

"I've never seen this part of his life. And I'm curious about it… Err, do you know what kind of guy was Kise with last time? He never mentioned a name and I didn't think that it would be you…"

"Hahaha. Ryouta is like a precious little brother to me! There's nothing between us at all," laughs Himuro.

"But back in Osaka…"

"Ryouta turns into a kissing machine every time he hits his alcohol tolerance threshold. Why else did you think everyone there were so eager to refill his glass forcing him to drink more when he has already had enough? They were all waiting for a chance to lock lips with him but I guess it ended up being my lucky night instead."

"Damn…"

"Anyway, you're probably referring to Haizaki Shougo. As far as I know, he was the only one that Kise was with back then. Lead singer for that rock band, VoLaTile. He was Ryouta's senpai in middle school and high school… In fact, Ryouta was the one who helped Haizaki break into the entertainment industry in the first place but their relationship ended abruptly last year after so long."

"VoLaTile? I hate that band. I don't understand why they're so popular now."

"Heh. It's a matter of taste. They just finished their tour all over Japan so I think Haizaki should be back around this time in Tokyo to record their new album."

"Doesn't matter. It's not of my concern."

"You should be concerned Aomine-kun... Haizaki still has the hots for Ryouta and they have known each other far longer than you have known Kise. Their relationship goes waaay back... I heard that he only dumped Ryouta because he didn't want to risk his band's popularity if word got out that he was dating someone. A guy too," said Himuro as he fiddled with the spoon in his tea. "In fact, I'm quite surprised that you don't seem to know Kise that well considering that you've only learned of this recently after having lived with him under the same roof and everything... Just so you know, the Kise that you know now isn't the same Kise from last year. Kise has changed a lot ever since he was dumped by Haizaki. He has always been the type to be loyal to the people that he has an affection to so I'm sure he still carries a soft spot for Haizaki. Honestly, I think Haizaki is bad news. I don't know what Ryouta sees in him or how they even got together in the first place. He has a brute behaviour and he is known to be quite a ruthless person around the entertainment circle. There are not many people who would want to have anything to do with him. "

"I see..."

"While they have known each other since middle school, I think it was only during high school that they started taking their relationship seriously. If Haizaki had wanted Ryouta back, you wouldn't stand a chance at all Aomine-kun," said Himuro grimly as he finished the last of his tea and excused himself from the table.

* * *

Kise has found himself in a mess of thoughts lately. He hasn't been able to think straight ever since he got back from that trip to Aomori and now he has to deal with Haizaki showing up once more in his life.

Kise had known Haizaki since they both went to the same middle school. Haizaki was one year ahead of Kise but back then, he was dating a girl in Kise's class so he was always seen hanging out at their class. During break time, Kise would have lunch by himself on the rooftop and Haizaki would be there too fooling around with his girlfriend much to Kise's annoyance that they couldn't find a more private place to go to. Kise only started to take notice of Haizaki when he caught Haizaki watching him a couple of times when he should only have eyes on his girlfriend at their class. He never really thought much of it thinking that it was just his imagination and he wasn't very comfortable with the way that Haizaki had looked at him.

Kise started working as a model around that time after his sister sent in a picture of him to a modelling agency and was then signed on. As he started working at such an early age, the school had given him special permission to miss classes whenever he had to go to work as the school had assumed that Kise would eventually grow up to be an entertainer and there was no point in trying to hold him back as you don't exactly need brains to be in that field. While his grades weren't amazing, it was still good enough for him to scrape through. His good looks had always made him stand out in school and his popularity only grew when he started modelling. Despite all that, Kise still kept to himself, shunning himself from making much friends and was constantly bored with his life as he was so used to getting things his way without putting much effort into it.

During a school festival, Kise had the chance to watch Haizaki perform with his band and he thought that they actually sounded pretty good. One day, while he was having lunch by himself at his usual spot on the rooftop, Haizaki approached him to introduce himself and to ask for a favour. Since Kise had a network of friends in the entertainment circle, he had asked Kise to help pass around a sample of his tape recording to any music producers that he might know. While Kise wasn't exactly the type to be helpful, especially to a complete stranger, he found himself agreeing to help out anyway. None of the music producers Kise passed the tape to showed any interest to sign on Haizaki's band much to Kise's surprise as he actually found the band to be really cool. Somehow, Kise found himself following the progress of Haizaki's band and he started showing up at their performances whenever he had the chance to.

They both have absolutely nothing in common. Kise came from a perfect family and was used to having things fall easily into place for him. Haizaki on the other hand came from a broken family and has always struggled to find a place for the only thing he cared about, his band. Despite those differences, they started to find themselves drawn to each other and began to spend more time together talking about their work. It came to a point when Haizaki's girlfriend confronted him in school as she was jealous that her Haizaki has chosen to spend more time with Kise than with her. When Haizaki learned about the incident, he dumped the girl immediately.

Kise has always had a dark side to him that very few people would know about. While Kise would always put up a happy front, he was extremely bored with life in general and could never quite understand why others struggle with the things that he found to be easy. He couldn't help but look down on others who couldn't reach the same level of success that he has. Kise was also far more mature than his peers from the same age group as his early involvement in the entertainment industry had thrown him into an adult world where he was forced to grow up faster. Kise initially looked down at Haizaki when he saw the latter struggle to get into the entertainment industry for so long but his stubbornness and determination to make it impressed Kise and he started to admire Haizaki's strong will.

Kise followed Haizaki to the same high school and they started being the best of friends from then on. Kise was always spending time at Haizaki's house, sitting in his room as he watch Haizaki attempt to write song lyrics or find a new tune on his guitar. Haizaki even helped him with his ear piercing there, done simply with a safety pin and lots of ice to numb the pain after. Despite Haizaki's crude behaviour, he was always honest towards Kise and it was only natural for a relationship to develop after. It all started out small at first, from light kisses on the forehead to sleeping over for the night to helping each other jerk off.

They stayed the same even after graduating from high school. Kise started to work more and Haizaki started to perform with his band in small clubs or music festivals. Kise was always supportive of Haizaki and would constantly put in a good word on Haizaki's band to the people he met in his line of work. One day, Haizaki finally caught a lucky break when a music producer got hold of the tape recording from Kise and decided to take Haizaki's band under his wing. Haizaki took Kise out for a celebration and one thing led to another. Amidst their drunken celebration, they had sex for the first time. But it didn't end there. Haizaki dedicated his success to having Kise in his life and that Kise was his inspiration, the bright sun in his life. Kise was truly happy back then.

Unfortunately, things started to fall apart when the tables are turned in Kise's perfect life while he was at the peak of his career. When Kise's work is greatly reduced from having an influx of fresh, new faces in the modelling industry, Haizaki's popularity was rising and a gap started to form between them. When it was usually Kise making time in his busy schedule for Haizaki, it slowly turned to Haizaki having less time to fit Kise in his schedule. Kise started to cling on to Haizaki as he wasn't quite used to his new circumstances only to be told off that he was suffocating Haizaki and that Kise was trying to hold him back from the doors that have started to open for Haizaki. It was a simple case of Haizaki not being able to handle his new-found fame.

Despite Kise's promises that he will never get in the way of Haizaki's dreams, that he is willing to give Haizaki as much breathing space as he needed, Haizaki still left. There was little that Kise's family, the only people he has ever had other than Haizaki, could do to comfort him. Sometimes Kise wondered if his father took that job transfer to Tottori on purpose so that he can take Kise away from his pain in the gruelling entertainment industry. Kise refused to leave Tokyo much to his family's disappointment, insisting that this was just a small blip in his career and that things would go back to normal soon. At one point, he ran away from home tired from listening to his family going on and on about what they think is best for Kise. He rented a run-down, cheap room in the edges of Roppongi and was able to make some money selling himself to a wealthy man. Since the man paid him really well, he only had that one chance encounter as the money he earned was enough for him to survive for almost a couple of months in the room where all he did was sleep, eat and watch TV while hoping that Haizaki would realize his mistake soon and come back for him. His sisters found him instead and that was the first time he saw his eldest sister, Ryoko, who had always been a head-strong woman break down and cry begging for him to come home to them. His other sister Rika wasn't able to hold her composure either, apologizing to him repeatedly that if she could have turned back time, she would have never sent his photo to the modelling agency and Kise would never have to go through all this now. While his sisters could not convince him into leaving Tokyo, they still understood his need for solitude and time to find himself. They eventually helped him look for a better place to stay and it was Ryoko who paid the deposit for the apartment he was currently staying in. Rika pulled Kise out from his agency and signed him on to a smaller agency based on a friend's recommendation and that was where he met his current manager, Reina, who was always looking out for his best interests.

Kise then recalled how he thought that his life was finally over when he ran into trouble with the yakuza over a stupid ad that he naively replied to and just when he thought that he was going to be reduced to being known as an actor in a cheap blue film, Aomine saved him and helped him get back on his feet. He smiled to himself recalling those happier times.

Now his future is back to being murky and he was afraid of what may come soon. He had come to a conclusion that he was pretty much useless on his own and that he was in desperate need for someone to take off some of his burden while he face an uncertain future.

Haizaki came to Kise's mind once again. He was capable of giving him comfort and he could use a lot of that nowadays. He could not deny having a lot of history with Haizaki and it made him wonder if he had never actually gotten over Haizaki at all. Haizaki knew of the darkness that he has inside of him but had always accepted him the for way he is. It was definitely a stark contrast to Aomine who opted to be clueless when he couldn't seem to handle Kise's feelings for him. He frowned upon thinking about how he hasn't seen or heard from Aomine since they returned from Aomori three weeks ago. It saddened Kise to think that after everything, he was now reduced to a helpless crybaby, an indication of how far he has fallen from grace. This wasn't like him at all. Now that Haizaki wants him back in his life, this could prove to be a good opportunity to return to how he used to be.

While he pondered over all his thoughts of the past, he heard a knock on his front door and was planning to ignore it when he heard Momoi's voice call out.

"Kise-kun? I know you're in there. Could you please open the door?"

Kise mustered whatever energy he has left to drag himself to the door and opened it to reveal a concerned-looking Momoi and Kuroko.

"Kise-kun… Uh, we're going upstairs to bring Aomine out to celebrate his birthday. We plan to catch the train to Minato Mirai and go to an amusement park... There's an udon restaurant there too that we wanted to try."

"Momoicchi… I don't think I can. I haven't showered since last night—"

"There's still time Kise-kun. We can wait," said Kuroko giving the death-stare at Kise which signalled that he wasn't taking "no" for an answer.

"I really don't—"

"Please Kise-kun!" Momoi pleaded this time and for some reason she now looked desperate with her eyes brimming in tears.

"I guess… Come on in for a while," answered a defeated Kise.

* * *

Aomine opened his front door to Momoi screaming a "Happy Birthday Daiki!" at the top of her lungs. He knew that Momoi would be dropping by to celebrate his birthday with him, like she always does ever since they were young but he didn't expect Kuroko to be there too. The biggest surprise was when he saw Kise with them looking as if he'd rather be somewhere else. Kise's face only lighted up when Aomine greeted him but Aomine couldn't help but feel how fake Kise's smile looked back then.

Aomine would occasionally glance at Kise staring at the view outside while they were on the train to Minato Mirai but said nothing much of it, preferring to turn his attention to Kuroko and Momoi's antics. As soon they arrived at their destination, they decided to visit the amusement park first for fear of throwing up their dinner when they got onto the thriller rides. Despite it being Aomine's birthday, it was Kuroko and Momoi who seemed to have the most fun that night, running from one ride to another in excitement. After they had finally gotten onto most of the rides in the park, Momoi suggested taking the Ferris Wheel before they grab dinner.

"Daiki— Let's get on separate passenger cars so I can have a romantic, private time with Tetsu-kun and you can sort things out with Kise-kun at the same time," whispered Momoi to Aomine as they were queuing up to get on-board the Ferris Wheel.

"But—" Aomine was about to protest but Momoi was already making arrangements with the attendant about taking the first passenger car with Kuroko while Aomine and Kise can get onto the next one.

Aomine felt the urge to kill Momoi for putting him in such an awkward situation as he got onto the passenger car with Kise. He didn't know what to say to Kise and it also seemed that Kise had nothing to say either as he gazed upon the night view of the city through the window and was lost in his own thoughts again.

There was a defeated look on Kise's expression that night and it only made Aomine felt even guiltier, wondering if he was to blame for his sadness again.

"Kise… I really wish that things will go back to normal for us…" Aomine said softly.

Kise turned slowly to stare at Aomine before he switched on his fake smile again.

"Ah— Is that what Aominecchi is worried about? Haha. Everything's fine, what made you think otherwise?"

"Well, you haven't said much since we left my place earlier this evening…"

"… I'm just tired from my last shift at the restaurant last night. I was planning to rest today but Momoicchi and Kurokocchi came knocking asking me to come along. They didn't really give me much choice. Anyway, happy birthday Aominecchi! I hope that all your wishes will come true this year!" grins Kise.

"Kise…"

"We're getting off soon Aominecchi and I want to enjoy the night view for a bit, let's talk again later," said Kise as he changed the topic and turned his attention back outside.

* * *

They never did get a chance to talk that night with Momoi doing most of the chattering, Kuroko doing most of the eating and Kise doing most of the dreaming. It was starting to annoy Aomine that he was made to feel really bad on his own birthday and decided that if Kise didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore, then he's definitely getting his wish now.

As the four of them arrived back home at the apartment complex, they walked over to Kuroko and Kise's place to send them off for the night. When they turned towards the corridor, they noticed a guy with messy, light gray hair and multiple piercings on both ears fiddling with his mobile phone while seated on the floor with his back against Kise's front door. Aomine noticed the change in Kise's expression as soon as he saw the guy on his doorstep which only made Aomine feel uneasy.

"Shougo-kun?" Kise asked stammering.

The guy turned towards Kise before he pushed himself up while glaring angrily at Kise.

"You have been rejecting my calls all night and did not reply to any of my messages! Where have you been?" he yelled at Kise.

Both Momoi and Kuroko were taken aback by the sudden turn of events and Aomine was starting to get pissed off from hearing the stranger's outburst.

"Hey, lower down your voice and how dare you talk to Kise like that!" Aomine yelled back.

"Huh? Who are you? What gives you the right to speak for him? Let Ryouta speak for himself!" Haizaki snapped back.

"Aominecchi, I can handle this…" said Kise as he grabbed Aomine's arm sleeve. "You should all go back…"

"Oi, oi. What's going on here? Who is he? And why is he talking to you like that?" asked Aomine who was starting to get upset.

"Ah— you must be the police officer who has been kind enough to take care of my Ryouta while I was gone…" snickered Haizaki. "Thanks so much for your help. I can take it from here now."

"Wha—?"

"Aominecchi! Just… Just go back!" Kise snapped at Aomine freezing him in his steps as Kise brushed past Aomine to unlock his front door.

"Come in Shougo-kun…" Kise said as he opened the door for Haizaki who walked in with a scoff with Kise following him closely behind.

Momoi appeared to be shaken by the incident as Kuroko tried his best to calm her down and Aomine can only stare helplessly at Kise's closed front door.

* * *

An hour later, Aomine opened his front door to find Kuroko clutching his pillow and a blanket asking if he could stay over with them for the night as he couldn't sleep from being able to hear Kise and Haizaki having loud sex next door through his wall.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note:

**WARNING: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE** -points to M rating-

I think I've written quite a predictable storyline so I'm sure that you can easily guess what's going to happen next. I am so **sorry** if the HaiKise content from the previous chapter had made any of you upset but I thought that it was necessary to show a side of Kise that not many would have known. I noticed that even in the manga, Kise has quite a mean streak to him from time to time. Haizaki also happens to be one of my favourite KNB characters. I just think he's often misunderstood. Although I am writing him out to be a jerk in this story but somebody has to play the bad guy here. If he was the good guy, this would have ended up as HaiKise fanfiction.

Anyway, it gets worse in this chapter because that's the way this story was meant to go in the first place. Kise is trying to pick up the pieces of his life and Haizaki is basically the reset button. Aomine realizes his true feelings too late and will still fail to act on it.

This chapter takes place in late October/late November as we're moving into winter. This series will end on the next chapter.

* * *

**Autumn: ****Broken**

Kise was snapped out from his daydreaming when he heard his name being repeatedly called out over the calling system. He glanced around to realize that he was sitting in the waiting area of a hospital before he caught sight of a concerned-looking receptionist. Kise adjusted the scarf around his neck as he stood up and proceeded to flash a blinding smile to the people working at reception counter causing them to swoon and chatter excitedly among themselves that the popular model, Kise Ryouta, had just looked in their direction. Kise passed by a huge digital clock that stated the time to be 3 pm. He had remembered coming in as early as 1 pm to see the doctor and wondered how he didn't realize the time go by.

He knocked lightly on the doctor's door which was swiftly opened by a cheerful male nurse beckoning him to come in and have a seat near the doctor. Kise saw that the doctor was a tall, serious-looking man with glasses and green hair. He also noticed that the doctor has his right hand on top of a stuffed racoon doll, whatever that means.

"Kise-kun! So nice to see you again! Awake that is!" greeted the male nurse. "I'm Takao, the nurse on duty today and I'll be assisting the doctor, Shin-chan—"

"Midorima Shintarou," said the doctor in an annoyed tone, obviously not happy to be referred to as 'Shin-chan'.

"Nice to see me again? Have we met?" Kise asked curiously.

"Yep, we did! Although you weren't awake back then… Glad to see that you're looking good now and… I'm just thankful that the scary-looking guy isn't here with you this time!" said Takao as he looked as if he was recalling a bad memory.

"Scary-looking guy?"

"What's his name? Ah— Aomine-kun I think? He was the one who brought you here the last time and it just so happened that you were assigned to us as well. I guess if he's not here, then that means you're not here for anything serious. If it was something bad, I'm sure he'll be carrying you in his arms and making a huge fuss in this hospital while questioning our medical expertise as he tries to tell us—"

"How can we help you Kise-kun?" said Midorima cutting Takao off as he was starting to talk too much when they should have been working.

"Uh right… My… Ah… My anu— Uh, I feel pain when I try to use the toilet… And sometimes… There's a little bit of blood when I— Uggh, it's just painful. There might be a tear or something… I'm not sure how to get around it…" Kise said embarrassed.

"Aomine-kun is rough no—" said Takao amused before he caught sight of Midorima giving him a disapproving look.

"No… Not him… My current boyfriend… Is impatient so uh…"

Takao's amused grin dropped flat before his expression turned to confused and then to concerned as he turned towards Midorima for help.

"Let me take a look Kise-kun," said Midorima as he got up from his seat and gestured at Kise to pull down his pants and lie flat on his stomach on the trolley bed.

After Midorima had taken a look at Kise's problem, he adjusted his glasses and was deep in thought before he started scribbling on a piece of prescription note.

"It's not bad enough to need stitches. It's like a tiny papercut, I could have missed it too if I hadn't taken a second look. It will heal on its own within a couple of weeks but I'll prescribe you some ointment to slather on it so that it can heal faster. I'll get you to take some antibiotics too just in case. Also try to eat more fibre, drink lots of water and avoid any vigorous activities for a while. If it still doesn't heal within six weeks, come back to see us," said Midorima.

"Withhold sex from that jerk until you heal Kise-kun. Or he's just not worth it," Takao said irritated.

"Ah… I…"

"Use lots and lots of water-based lubricants and prepare yourself well if you still have to," Takao muttered without looking at Kise.

"Ha… Haha. Is that from your medical expertise or from your own bedroom experience?" giggled Kise as he tried to ease the tension in the room.

* * *

Aomine was on guard duty with Wakamatsu for a book convention in Odaiba since early morning. He looked at his watch briefly and cursed the fact that he still has about four more hours to go.

"Think about it Aomine-kun. This is the last dull police work that you get to do for this month. Next month, you'll be promoted to Police Sergeant and rule our station. Damn, that also means that you can order me around as you like too! I hate you for being able to make it at such a young age!" said Wakamatsu sarcastically.

"That's only because the other officer that they had in mind for the job had sent in his resignation last week so he could get married. I guess they must be really desperate to fill the vacant post with just about anyone," said Aomine.

"Is Aomine-kun being humble? Haha. That's a big change of attitude!" laughs Wakamatsu as he avoids an air punch from Aomine. "Kise-kun is doing well too huh? He's doing that amazing campaign for Shiseido Men and I can't help but buy a whole set of their new skincare products! Do I look flawless to you now?"

"You can drink a whole bottle of that face moisturizer and still not look a single bit as Kise at his worst!" snaps an annoyed Aomine. "Anyway, the promotion is only perfect for single men who have nothing else to do but work all day and night. I'm hardly celebrating over it. That also means more paperwork and I _hate_ paperwork. I would rather just do patrols, catch bad guys and even this dull guard duty job—OUCH" Aomine's sentence was cut off when he was hit on his head from behind.

Gripping his police baton to face his attacker, all he saw was a familiar-looking girl in Gothic Lolita attire. Aomine also realized that he had just been hit by a frilly, dark purple umbrella much to his embarrassment.

"Huh? What was that all about? Aren't you Kise's sister? The less crazy one?"

"Rika."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What's with the all-black attire? You looked much better when you were all pink and girly last time."

"This is my mourning outfit."

"Huh?"

"My poor Ryou-chan is in pain and it's all your fault for not protecting him!" said Rika as she hits Aomine again with her umbrella.

"Ouch— Oi! Just stop it! You're making me look bad here! I'm supposed to be looking after the public here and I'm getting beaten up by a little girl!"

By then, Wakamatsu has already excused himself to go somewhere else safer.

"What are you doing here Rika-san?"

"Hmph. This is a Boys' Love manga convention. I'm here to receive a 'Best Newcomer' award for my 'Model Mayhem' yaoi manga series."

"Wha—? What is that even about?"

"It's about a top model who is in a love triangle between a rock star and a police officer."

"Huh? Why does it piss me off to hear that all of a sudden?"

"Grrr… I'm having a major writer's block now about how to end the series and my publishers has been putting a lot of pressure on me! I… I can't decide on an ending and it's freaking me out!"

"Oi, oi. Is the story based on your brother's life?"

"I guess… My Ryou-chan has always been an inspiration to me."

"That's just plain disturbing! Hmph. I guess if you want my honest opinion, maybe your main character is better off with his rock star lover!" scoffs Aomine.

"But, but… The police officer ranked second in the character popularity poll! And most of my fans have been writing in to tell me that they are rooting for him to win Ryuu's love!"

"Ryuu?"

"Yeah, that's the name of my main character. The police officer is Daichi and the rock star is Shuji."

"You are drawing your manga based on real life events?"

"I… I guess… It felt more realistic that way. The fangirls _love_ it. I've just put the series on hiatus since I'm out of ideas at the moment. So… Aomine-kun, what are you going to do now?"

"Wha—? Do what?"

"How are you going to win back his love?"

"Are we still talking about your manga series?"

"A bit. But I'm referring to Ryou-chan now."

"What makes you think that I have anything to do with him anymore?"

"So it's true that Ryou-chan is back with Haizaki for good? That's… That's not good," said Rika as she started to sulk.

"Oi, oi. Don't start crying on me now! Is there something in your family DNA that can make you switch on the waterworks anytime you like?"

"But… But… Poor Ryou-chan. I wished he had made more friends back in those days but he chose to be friends with Haizaki only. And now… Now…"

"Rika-chan… Kise is an adult. He's perfectly capable of making his own life decisions… I haven't actually seen or spoken to him lately. He's rarely at the apartment now… But the couple of times that I saw him, he looked perfectly fine to me…"

"How would you know that when you're not even in Ryou-chan's life anymore? Haizaki was the reason he was such a mess in the first place! I don't trust him at all! Ryou-chan… Uh… We thought that it was all over when Haizaki dumped him last year but Ryou-chan took it really bad… He ran away from us, from all of us and… It took us a while to find him. We… We're just afraid that he would do something stupid next!" sulks Rika.

"Why are you telling me all this now?"

"Be… Because… We didn't know anything when we helped Ryou-chan move back into his place… We thought you're just some ganguro who is trying to take advantage of our precious Ryou-chan… But then the landlady told us that you saved him when he got into trouble… And that you have always treated him well… We… We even received a postcard and pictures from him when he spent his summer with you in Aomori. We've never seen him with such a happy expression… And we thought that things are going well now… Until we started reading in the gossip magazines about Haizaki and Ryou-chan getting back together… And… Ryou-chan has now stopped accepting our calls…"

"I'm truly sorry Rika-san… But I don't plan to be any part of this anymore. Kise is on his own now…" said Aomine glumly as Rika hits him with her umbrella again.

* * *

Kise was woken up slightly when he heard Haizaki rummaging through his bag before he found his wallet.

"Nggh… Shougo-kun? What are you doing with my things?" he asked sleepily.

"I need to get some cigarettes from the vending machine," Haizaki replied bluntly as he took out a 1000 yen note from Kise's wallet before throwing the wallet back into the bag.

Kise was too exhausted to say anything in return and fell back into a deep sleep.

* * *

Despite the clear sky, it was still a very chilly Saturday morning. The temperatures were starting to drop drastically as winter is nearing and Aomine cursed his bad luck when he found out that his heater is no longer working. He hates shopping for household items but he knew that it had to be done if he doesn't want to turn into a human popsicle by the time the year is over. It was only the beginning of November and since he wasn't working that day, he thought that he might as well get this over and done with quickly. He remembered seeing advertisements in the newspapers that the end-of-year sales have just begun so he thought that this could end up to be an opportunity to pick up a good bargain.

As he boarded the train to go to one of the shopping malls in Shibuya, he tried to recall the last time he went on a shopping trip. Aomine had never liked shopping finding it to be a chore but when Kise used to live with him, that was all they ever do over the weekends. Aomine admits that he is still a bit upset from the time he met Haizaki for the first time and saw Kise following the latter without any hesitance. Work was the only thing that could distract Aomine from thinking about Kise. Since he was worried about Kise, he had tried to knock on his door a few times only to find find that that either nobody home's or Haizaki would be the one to open the door and slam it in his face upon seeing that it was Aomine. He never got a reply from the few messages that he had tried sending to Kise asking him how he was doing. Sighing to himself, he flipped open his mobile phone to type another text message to Kise, asking him if he has any free time to meet up for a drink. It was a long shot for Aomine but he has no idea what is going on in the former's life and it just _worries_ him.

Aomine grabbed a hot coffee on his way out of the station. As he was about to cross the road and make his way towards Tokyu Department Store, he glanced around the intersection in front of the station's exit to see the place looking lively as usual with its neon advertisements and giant video screens. One of the larger billboards caught his eye. It was an advertisement featuring Kise endorsing a Seiko watch. In that picture, Kise had the most brilliant smile that Aomine has ever seen. A sight that he was starting to see less of. Aomine took a few steps back and found a bench that has a good view of the billboard. He decided that he should sit there for a while and finish his coffee. As he stared at the billboard, he almost forgot the real reason he was even there in the first place.

* * *

Kise had just wrapped up shooting another TV commercial in downtown Shibuya and was walking with the filming crew to the station when his phone buzzed with a message.

**From: Aominecchi**

**In Shibuya now, looking for a heater. Help please? **

Kise smiled at the message thinking that it was just like Aomine to type out his messages like that. When he realized that Aomine had mentioned that he was in Shibuya, Kise pondered for a bit on how he should respond. He hasn't been replying to any of Aomine's messages as he was still embarrassed over Aomine's rejection during summer and things are just awkward now with Haizaki back in his life. He remembered Haizaki's warning that he didn't like Kise being in contact with Aomine and it just made sense that he was jealous since they're supposed to be in a steady relationship now.

"Kise-kun, isn't that your friend, Aomine-kun?" whispered Keiko while Kise was still pondering over the text message.

As he looked at the direction Keiko was pointing to, he caught sight of Aomine sitting lazily on a bench watching the commercials played by a giant video screen at the pedestrian intersection. Kise felt nervous all of a sudden when Reina spoke up.

"We're all finished here, Kise-kun. Thanks for your good work. Go have some fun now," she winked at Kise while gesturing with her head towards Aomine.

Kise didn't get the chance to reply as his colleagues parted ways from him and Kise found himself taking slow steps towards Aomine, wondering what it was that has caught Aomine's full attention and turned his head upwards to look at what Aomine was staring at. He blushed a bit when he saw his own billboard staring back at him but quickly brushed off the thought that Aomine would even show any interest in that.

"Aominecchi?" he called out.

Kise's voice took Aomine by surprise as he stood up immediately to look at Kise.

"Huh? Kise? What? That was quick! Did you tell me you were coming?" Aomine asked as he looked back at his phone to check for any unread messages.

"I… I didn't tell you anything. I happened to be around the area and my colleagues pointed you out to me… So I thought… That I should say hello. It's been a long time Aominecchi…" he smiled faintly.

"Yeah, yeah… It's been a long time… I don't see you much at the apartment too…"

"That's because I'm spending more time at Haizaki's… He's living in a hotel room just nearby… And apparently, I heard that there has been complaints about our activities from the other tenants…"

"Yeah, I've heard of that too… Haizaki didn't come with you to see you work?" grumbles Aomine.

"Nah. He has a meeting with his music producer today. I think he's run into a few problems with their next album—"

"Hey, what is this?" Aomine asked as he held out his hand to touch Kise's left cheek after noticing a light bruise on his face.

Kise flinched when he felt Aomine's cold hand touch his left cheek and took a step back.

"Ah— This one you mean? Just a small bruise—"

"Did that bastard Haizaki do this to you?" yells an infuriated Aomine.

"No— It isn't like that. I… I hit my face on the bedpost while we were… Uh… It was my fault. Haizaki has nothing to do with this," said Kise as he tried to cover the bruise with his own hand while wondering how Aomine could have noticed it when Keiko had already done a good job concealing it with makeup in the first place.

"No, no. I don't buy that. He did this to you didn't he? That low-life!" Aomine continued.

"Aominecchi! Listen to me! He didn't–"

"Why are you trying so hard to defend him? He's bad news—"

"Aominecchi! Stop putting Shougo-kun down! He _really_ didn't do anything! We're both doing just fine!" snaps Kise back, clearly upset with Aomine's sudden outburst.

Aomine proceeded to ignore Kise's remarks and grabbed his left arm to pull him closer so that he can have a better look on his face only to be pushed back roughly by Kise.

"Ah… I see now. You like to be in that kind of a relationship. I would have never guessed… Does this means that those _feelings_ that you had for me meant nothing at all in the end? And all this while I was actually _worried_ about you. That I may have hurt your feelings but you were already over it quickly as soon as Haizaki comes back into the picture. Did you plan all this from the very beginning? Was I just a distraction until you sorted out your own love problems with Haizaki? Are you both playing some kind of cruel game on me? I should have known… The truth about you Kise, is that just about _anyone_ would do—"

**SLAP.**

"…"

"Ao… Aomine… You…" stammered a tearful Kise as his hand trembled nervously from having just slapped Aomine in the face. "I don't ever want to see you anymore."

Aomine took one last look at Kise and left without a single word.

* * *

That same night, Haizaki was left wondering why Kise was much more accepting of him and difficult to please at the same time.

"Damn Ryouta… Mmm… Shit," as he felt Kise's hips move eagerly in response to his own thrusts before he came faster than he would have liked to.

"Nggh? Ryouta? You're not done yet?" asked an exhausted Haizaki as Kise pushed him off from him so that he was now lying down on his back on the bed.

"Shut up Shougo-kun and just let me ride you," said Kise as he assumed control and climbed onto Haizaki for another round.

Haizaki knew that he was currently being used as a distraction to something that was bothering Kise but he had no complaints at all as he indulged in the feeling of Kise's sweet mouth against his own.

* * *

Aomine has been tossing and turning in his sleep ever since his chance encounter with Kise. The slap on the face didn't hurt Aomine at all. But the look on Kise's face did. And it has been haunting him ever since.

He didn't know where this feeling of possessiveness over Kise came from but he was definitely hating the fact that Kise is with Haizaki now. He barely knew the latter but his gut instinct told him that there is something fishy about Haizaki to appear at this time in Kise's life. Wasn't that guy's life peachy already now that he is a famous musician? Why did he have to suddenly come back into Kise's life? And why the hell is Kise so receptive of that bastard?

Aomine had even abused his police privileges to dig out any information he could find on Haizaki. He came up with a couple of complaints filed against him for assault but they were only minor cases from drunken fights which wasn't really anything worth looking into. He had asked for Momoi's opinion since she has always been keeping up with the gossip among celebrities but even Momoi has very little information for him. All she has is that the media are now fully aware about Haizaki and Kise being in a relationship right now and surprisingly, there was very little or no backlash at all against the duo. Society seems to be accepting of this kind of relationship or maybe Kise was so well-liked that anything he does will get a positive response from his fans. Kise's popularity is rising high at the moment especially after having been signed up as an endorser for Shiseido Men. He had just signed a 2-year deal with them worth 160 million yen. There was no need for Kise to take up any other work after that endorsement deal but Kise was a hard worker and he never stopped accepting work from other interested parties. Currently, he is the best paid model in the country and there is even a rumour going around about him getting scouted by a high-end French brand to endorse their products in Japan. Haizaki on the other hand does not have much on his plate nowadays ever since his tour around the country ended sometime in June and was supposed to be working on a new album scheduled for release in September only to have it delayed to an unknown date due to unforeseen circumstances.

At one point, Aomine was tempted to storm the couple and just take Kise away by force from Haizaki but he didn't actually have a good reason to commit such an act that it only ended up as just a passing thought. He finally came to a conclusion that there was nothing wrong with Kise being with Haizaki. That he was only imagining the worst for them because he _hated_ the fact that Kise is with Haizaki.

Aomine pulled his blanket over his head and tried to force his horrible thoughts away while cursing the cold air at the same time. He hasn't replaced his heater yet.

* * *

It was a slow evening for Kise as he flipped through his work contracts from boredom while having the room service that he had just ordered after Haizaki cancelled their dinner plans due to work commitments. The phone rang and it was from the reception downstairs asking him to see them if he had some free time. Kise took his last bite and decided to find out why the reception had asked for him.

"Kise-kun! We truly apologize for having to disturb you but uh… We need to sort out the bill for the hotel room first. Your card company has just rejected our bill so do you have another form of payment?" said the girl at the reception.

"Huh? I… I don't understand. I'm not paying for Haizaki's room," said a confused Kise. "Isn't the room paid by the music label or something?"

"Eh? We know nothing about that! The room may be under Haizaki's name but it's currently being charged to your credit card!"

"No… That can't be right. I never knew—"

"Kise-kun?" a voice called out.

Kise turned towards voice and tried his best to recall the guy's name but failed miserably at it. The only clue that he had was that this guy is the drummer in Haizaki's band.

"Ah—sorry. I think I know you but I can't really remember—"

"Eh? That's fine Kise-kun. You meet too many people in this business anyway that you're bound to forget some of us. Hehe. It's Hino. Hey, is Haizaki-kun upstairs right now?" he asked.

"No, no. He said that he's out to see the music producer. I'm not sure when he'll be back but it could be late… Sorry, I have to deal with this right now," Kise apologized to Hino as he turned his attention back to the receptionist.

"Sorry, you were saying? That I've been paying for Shougo-kun's stay here the whole time? How did he even have my card?" Kise asked.

"He was paying for the room out of his own pocket money for the first week but after that, he changed the method of payment and informed us to swipe everything under your card… We have the details right here…" said the receptionist as she pointed to her computer screen which showed Kise's credit card details. "Maybe we have reached the card limit and you have not cleared the balance yet? After all, the room has been in use for almost three months now."

Kise was still confused over the whole thing when Hino, who hasn't left, spoke up.

"Ah, so you're the reason he can afford to stay at this hotel. The rest of the guys in the band were wondering how Haizaki-kun could afford to stay in this 5-star hotel for so long. Even we guys don't have such luxury anymore," Hino commented sadly.

"What? What do you mean Hino-san? Isn't the band doing well?" Kise asked surprised with this turn of events.

"That's the reason I'm here to see Haizaki-kun. I'm pulling out from the band, I'm tired of this crap. Well, no offense to you though. You have absolutely nothing to do with this."

"I honestly don't know what's going on Hino-san… What happened?"

"Well, I guess after everything… We only ended up being a one-hit wonder. After the end of the tour, we released a new promotional single, meant to be for the new album but it fell off the charts within one week… We're kind of struggling right now. Even the other songs that we've written did not sit well with our music producer. So there won't be any new album. The record label is not willing to fund such a risky project and said that if we still want to carry on with recording a new album, we can still go ahead but we will have to pay for it out of our own pockets. Which to say is, we don't have much in our pockets too. We've been spending a lot on partying while we were on tour and we lacked a future plan so now that we're back in Tokyo, it's like we're starting back at square one. Haizaki-kun isn't taking our situation very well. He has been throwing tantrums lately and we hate that. Also, my wife has just filed for divorce against me but I'm trying to set things right… Which is why I'm leaving the band to pursue other things that can support my family… At least Haizaki-kun is still the lucky one among us since he has you to look out for him… We kind of envy that…"

Kise found himself speechless before he took out another credit card to settle the bill at the reception. After settling the bill, Kise was fuming with anger as he got back to the room to wait for Haizaki's return and demand an explanation.

* * *

Kise was getting more upset as he started to confirm the worse from the calls he had just made to the card company and the bank. He was angry with himself for not noticing that something has been off with Haizaki lately. He has caught Haizaki taking money out from his wallet but had never given much thought of it. He assumed that since they are together now, it only makes sense that they can take things from each other too.

He was angry with himself for not keeping a careful eye on his finances as he only found out that he was missing one credit card. The card company called him back to inform him that his missing credit card is still active and has already reached the maximum spending limit which is why it can no longer be used until the balance has been cleared. Kise rarely used that card and knew that those purchases could not have come from him. Another call from his bank revealed that about 2 million yen was also withdrawn in cash over a few intervals for the past couple of months. According to them, the person who withdrew his money has his bank card, driver's license and his personal bank stamp which is why they had no issues with releasing the amount of money and had never raised a red flag.

Kise could not believe that all this was happening without his knowledge and he called up his manager, Reina, to air out his grievances and help him sort out this mess. Just as he was about to hang up on Reina, he heard the front door open to Haizaki returning in a drunk state.

"SHOUGO-KUN! Explain yourself! What have you been doing behind my back?" yelled Kise angrily at Haizaki.

"Huh? What are you talking about Ryouta?" he slurred his sentences.

"You have been taking money from me without my knowledge! Why didn't you say anything?"

"You have a looottt of money now Ryouta— You won't miss the amount I've taken. Plus, your things are my things too…"

"There's no such thing! What's happening with your band now too? I heard that things are not going well for you guys. Why am I just hearing about this now? And from other people too for God's sake!"

"You don't want to know about it."

"Of course I would! We're together now! If you had discussed this with me in the first place, I could have figured something out for us!"

"Gosh Ryouta… Are you enjoying this now? That you now have more power and control over me? Like in the old days?" growled Haizaki with venom in his voice.

"Huh? Wha— No, I mean—"

"You can never understand what I'm going through! YOU— YOU who is so used to having things fall into your lap at the blink of an eye. YOU who never have to work hard for anything in your life! YOU who knew nothing about the struggles of others!"

"Shougo-kun. You're drunk. Sit down and let's talk about this in a civilised manner—" Kise's words were cut short when he felt the sudden impact of Shougo's fist on the left side of his face which caused him to tumble onto the floor.

"I've always _hated_ you Ryouta. The way you flaunt yourself continuously to me. Even from back then, you were never really interested in my own struggles. In fact, you were probably amused from seeing me even try to make it—" said Haizaki as he proceeded to kick Kise in the stomach while he was on the floor.

"Stop— Wait— Uggh," writhes Kise in pain as he clutched his stomach tightly on the floor only to be dragged back up by Haizaki.

"You know, I thought I can finally show you that hard work trumps natural-born talent but I guess it was only a short-lived thing… I thought I have gotten rid of you last year so that you can suffer on your own, to know how it feels like to have doors closed in your face… But it seems that a lot of people interfered, as usual. People who couldn't bear to see their precious Kise Ryouta _suffer_. Your goddamn family… That… That new agency of yours that's throwing all these work back into your lap… That guy… The guy that you used to replace me…"

"Shou… Shougo-kun… Ple— Please stop. You're hurting me," begged Kise in tears only to be pushed roughly against a wall this time.

"That stupid music producer that you introduced me to is pulling back their support. Saying something about wanting to sign up other bands better than us…"

"I'm sorry— Shougo-kun… I'm sorry—"

"Said he didn't like our new material. Said that my band isn't getting any better. While we were on tour… He said all that. I couldn't care less what he thinks about me and then… Then I saw _you_. Everywhere. On TV, in the magazines, on those giant billboards— As if _mocking_ me for being unable to succeed. I hate that even when you're with me or without me, you can still thrive on your own. The natural sunshine you are—"

"Sto— Stop this Shougo-kun. It doesn't have to be this way— We can figure something out— Both of us. I won't leave you suffering like this— You're a good person—" cried Kise desperately.

"No Ryouta. I've never been a good person. You were never one too. I know you very well Ryouta… We're both bad people. We don't deserve happiness."

"Please Shougo-kun… I beg you… Please… Stop. I… Can't… Breathe…" said Kise as he struggled to loosen himself from Haizaki's tight grip.

"We're the same Ryouta… The only difference is… That… You're born with a face of an angel— But what happens when you don't have that anymore?" growls Haizaki as he lets go of Kise before grabbing hold of a bedside lamp and hitting Kise's head with it.

After that hit, all Kise felt was a tremendous amount of pain as his ears started ringing and his vision started to blur. He cried, he begged but Haizaki didn't stop. He then tried to fight back, to run towards the front door but Haizaki was stronger than him and he was immediately pinned down on the floor as Haizaki released his utmost rage on Kise.

He thought that it was all over when he felt Haizaki's hands start to squeeze tightly on his throat and Kise was beginning to faint for not being able to breath. For a brief moment, he could hear someone shouting and knocking on the front door but then again, Kise was no longer in a normal state of mind that he could have just imagined those things. He had given up with the begging and is now crying uncontrollably as he thought about what was going to happen to his family if they found out about this. There were a lot of regrets going through his mind but he couldn't really make out what they were. All he could think of was that he was sorry for something, maybe everything. Just before the world turned pitch black for Kise, he cried out for Aomine to save him and cried even harder when it dawned on him that there was no chance of that ever happening.

* * *

Aomine was awoken from his sleep when his phone buzzed at an ungodly hour. He looked at the screen and saw that it was a call from Wakamatsu which prompted Aomine to wonder why Wakamatsu would even call him at this late hour.

"What?" Aomine answered with an annoyed tone.

"Aomine-kun. You need to get here now. There's been an incident… Hotel Okura," Wakamatsu said with panic in his voice.

Aomine couldn't make much sense to it but Wakamatsu hung up before he could even ask anything. His worst fear had come true. He knew that when he took that promotion recently that his workload is bound to increase. He was just annoyed that even his sleeping hours are being disturbed now. What is it that the other officers on-duty at that time could not handle that they still find it necessary to call him out on the field?

Aomine forced himself to wake up and was glad that he had ironed his uniform earlier that night.

* * *

Aomine was delayed for some time when he arrived at Hotel Okura. It was raining heavily making the night feel even colder, a clear indication that winter is coming. Even with an umbrella and a raincoat, he was still wet as it was also windy that night.

When he arrived at the scene, he noticed that there were a lot of people gathered there. The police, the ambulance and a lot of people who looked as if they worked for a TV station or something. Must be a huge story here, he thought to himself as he approached one of his underlings who was busy taking things out from the police car.

"Oi— Where's Wakamatsu? He's the one who called me out here at this time of the night. What's going on here?"

"Wakamatsu-san? Ah, I think he's at the hotel. He's on the scene as we speak. We received a distress call about a fight in one of the hotel rooms," said the underling.

"Huh? I got called out for a lovers quarrel? You should know better how to handle this kind of things without calling me out! How bad is it? I hope nobody died. Is that why the media people is here too?" Aomine asked disgruntled.

"The media? I guess I can understand why this is big news for them. It's that singer and model couple. I can't recall the singer's name… But the model is the famous Kise Ryouta—"

Aomine's heart stopped at the mention of Kise's name as he dropped his umbrella and pushed himself through the crowd as he tried to get into the hotel as fast as he could.

As soon as he got out the elevator on the 17th floor, there was already lot of activity going around in the corridor. It took Aomine a while before he could start to make sense of the current situation. The other hotel room tenants were peeking through their door obviously curious on the activities taking place on their floor. It was suddenly reminiscent to Aomine of the first time he met Kise, when the yakuza had tried to beat him up but Aomine came at exactly the right moment to prevent anything bad from happening. Aomine prayed hard in his heart that the same thing would happen too this time, that he will walk through that door and Kise will just be a ball of crying mess from being scared but unhurt. He had a bad feeling that it might not be the same case this time but he still hoped that he would be proven wrong.

After he was able to go through the sea of people, he finally reached the door and went underneath the yellow crime scene tape. Aomine could not understand why he was shaking as he walked in and saw all the people gathered in that room. There were shattered items on the floor and the room basically looked as if a typhoon was in it for a visit. He was only thinking of Kise by then. He spotted a drunk-looking Haizaki seated against the wall with handcuffs over his bloody fists while a police officer was by his side taking down a statement.

"Aomine-kun!" Wakamatsu called out as soon as he saw Aomine standing at the front door.

Aomine didn't respond to Wakamatsu as he finally caught sight of what looked like Kise on an ambulance stretcher where a couple of paramedics were working frantically over him. He recognized one of them to be Takao, the male nurse that he had met before at the hospital. When Takao spotted Aomine, he shook his head sadly prompting Aomine to push the people out of his way as he tried to get closer to Kise.

When Aomine saw the state Kise was in, he dropped on his knees on the floor and felt his heart sank into the gallows. Kise was a bludgeoned mess. His face was badly bruised and swollen with blood mixed with dried tears painted on his face. He noticed a deep gash on Kise's upper lip and a large knot in his hair due to the sticky dried blood. One of his arms appeared to be bent in an abnormal position and there were dark bruises all over his exposed skin. Despite the state that he was in, Kise still looked like he was at peace.

Just as Aomine began to think of the worst, he felt Takao's hand on his shoulder.

"He's still breathing Aomine-kun. Barely though. Can you please move out of the way? We need to get him back to the hospital as fast as we could," Takao said.

Aomine could only nod in weak agreement as he made way for them. After Kise was removed from the scene, Aomine was at loss as to whether he should follow Kise or settle things with Haizaki once for all. He was more tempted to do the latter when Wakamatsu interrupted his thoughts to update him about the current situation.

"That guy and a few neighbouring hotel tenants helped broke up the fight before we arrived…" Wakamatsu pointed to Hino. "I still need to get a proper statement from him."

Hino approached them when Wakamatsu beckoned for him so he could write his statement.

"Uh, hello. Ah, I'm Hino, Haizaki's band member… I kind of know the both of them… I happened to be here because I was going to see Haizaki. Personal matters. I heard shouting when I was about to knock on the door and then I heard a fight broke out… The fight was so bad and I feared for the worse. I tried to knock on the door but nobody opened up. I think one of the other tenants called the reception and security came up here to help open the door. When we got in, Haizaki was beating up Kise… And Kise seemed unconscious so we intervened. Haizaki seems to be pretty drunk though, he might not realize what he just did—"

Aomine could barely process what Hino was saying as he grabbed a fallen chair from the floor and walked towards Haizaki to slam it down on him.

There was a lot of uncontrollable rage in Aomine and it took quite a number of people to pull him back from accidentally killing Haizaki who would now have a good idea on how it feels like to be on the receiving end.

* * *

It was an unfamiliar view for Aomine who was used to putting criminals behind the bars. Now, it was his turn to be behind bars at the local police station. It didn't really matter to Aomine as he wasn't thinking straight anyway. All he could remember was the sight of Kise's battered body and there was nothing he could do to remove that sight from his mind. It was only when he heard the sound of the cell being unlocked by Wakamatsu that he started to become aware of where we was and what was going on. Aomine turned to Wakamatsu and saw both Momoi and Kuroko standing behind him.

Momoi's eyes were puffy probably from crying too much prior to getting there and she was slightly trembling as if trying to contain herself while Kuroko still looked the same, distant and lacking a soul.

"Please don't hold a grudge on me for throwing you in here. It had to be done. You were out of control last night. You almost had blood on your hands," said Wakamatsu in a low voice. "I'll be acting on your job for now. Order from headquarters… They're taking a disciplinary action against you so you're not allowed to come back to work until further notice."

"Daiki, I brought you a change of clothes. You should clean yourself up first… Then… Then we can head to the hospital to see Kise-kun…"

"Kise… How is he?" Aomine asked in a sorrowful voice.

"He will be out of surgery soon. He'll live. That's why we're here to grab you first. We can visit Kise-kun together," answered Kuroko.

There was nothing else for him to say as he grabbed the clothes from Momoi and proceeded to find a sink where he could wash his face with cold water.

* * *

Takao spotted them as soon as they arrived at the hospital and took them to the 6th floor where Kise had just left surgery and is currently being placed under intensive care in a private room.

When they arrived outside his room, they saw Midorima speaking to what looked like all of Kise's family members. Aomine noticed Ryoko at first looking as if she had just left her workplace in a rush to get to Tokyo after hearing the news on her little brother. Aomine saw an older couple and guessed that they could be Kise's parents as he noted a few resemblances to Kise. Kise's father had a grim expression on his face as he listened carefully to every word Midorima was saying while Kise's mother was still sobbing softly as Rika tried her best to console her. Rika was the first to notice Aomine and she threw him a disappointed look, as if blaming Aomine for everything that has happened to Kise. Aomine didn't mind though. He's doing the exact same thing too.

The family went into the room as soon as they finished their discussion Midorima.

"I'm sorry. But they just told me that you guys are not allowed to be anywhere near Kise…" said Midorima as he adjusted his glasses.

"What? How can that be? I came all the way from Osaka to see Kise-kun as soon as I saw the news on TV!" Momoi protested angrily.

"Truly sorry. But this is the family's request… They just want a moment of their own. I'm only doing what I was told to…" Midorima said. "Although there shouldn't be any restriction for you guys to hang around here. If there is an opening, I could try to get you guys in."

"How is Kise-kun?" Kuroko asked the obvious question.

"He was in surgery because of a ruptured liver from the blunt trauma but we were able to control the bleeding before it got any worse. He had a few broken ribs and there was also blood in his lungs… But none of his other injuries are life-threatening. He has a broken right forearm, probably from trying to defend himself… And a dislocated shoulder which we fixed before the surgery. His face was badly bashed in but there were no broken facial bones, the worst of that bit being just a chipped tooth. The superficial injuries to his face should heal with time. There might be some scarring though. He also suffered a mild concussion and his brain scan showed a small bleed but we're planning to treat that conservatively. He's pretty much knocked out at this stage so we're putting him on a ventilator to help with his breathing… He should wake up in a day or two, depending on how fast his body recovers."

At this stage, Aomine was barely listening to the doctor as he stared through the large window of Kise's private room trying to catch a glimpse of Kise inside when Rika pulled the curtains closed.

* * *

Momoi was able to reason with Kise's family and both she and Kuroko were allowed to come in for a while with the exception of Aomine. Rika must have said something to her parents as they were constantly giving him a disapproving look. Aomine couldn't care less by what Kise's family thought of him as he lounged around the waiting area on the ground floor of the hospital. He had fallen asleep on the chair when Takao woke him up to smuggle him towards an empty patient bed that he can use discretely. Kise's family never left Kise on his own so Aomine's mission to get in for even a short while was starting to feel like a lost cause.

By the fifth day, Aomine was still camping on the hospital grounds. He was starting to get along with most of the people working there. When Takao couldn't sneak Aomine onto an empty patient bed, he would borrow him a couple of blankets for him to brave the cold through the night. Aomine was quite thankful that he hasn't heard anything about being asked to come back to work as it only means more free time for him to spend at the hospital. He was especially grateful with Takao who was constantly checking up on him despite both of them having a rough start when they first met back in summer.

Momoi had left for Osaka after her first visit while Kuroko had come to visit Kise twice. Murasakibara had stopped by on the third day with Himuro bringing sliced cakes for the hospital staff as a way to thank them for their hard work on looking after Kise. Aomine saw Reina and Keiko a few times too but they too suffered the same fate as Aomine, suffering the wrath of Kise's family who blamed them for not looking out for Kise well enough. Kise's incident was all over the news in the country when it first happened that Aomine's relatives in Aomori had reached out to him asking him if Kise was going to be okay. Aomine wasn't able to give them a straight answer and just repeated what the doctors have been telling him, that "he'll live".

Aomine was sleeping in the freezing waiting area when somebody shook him awake.

"Aomine-kun, Kise's family just left… I heard they're going out to have a late dinner together… Somewhere nearby… This is your chance," whispered Takao.

Aomine leaped at the opportunity given to him and found himself trying to catch his breath after having run up six flights of stairs when he was too impatient to wait for the elevator.

He noticed that the curtains were still closed obstructing any view of the patient inside from outside.

He was shaking nervously as he turned the doorknob and stepped inside the large but fairly empty private room. Kise was resting on a large bed and it made him look smaller. They have taken him off the ventilator so he was no longer connected to any unsightly tubes. At first glance, Kise looked perfectly normal as if he was just sleeping, barely making a sound or any slight movement. Upon closer inspection, Aomine noticed how pale Kise looked and that there was still some slight swelling and dark bruising on the left side of his face.

Aomine dragged a chair to seat himself closer to Kise. He reached out his fingers to touch Kise's face lightly and wondered how much it must have hurt. Kise didn't seem to be the type who can tolerate much pain. He must have been in agony when this first happened to him. There was a lot of guilt in Aomine as he thought of what he could have done differently in the past to prevent this from happening. Should he have just accepted Kise's feelings when they were Aomori? If he did, Kise would have never gotten back with Haizaki. Or maybe he should have trusted his gut instinct regarding Haizaki and dealt with the problem from the very beginning. He still had no clue on why Haizaki would hurt Kise like this. And even if Kise must have wronged Haizaki, he certainly didn't deserve any of this.

He recalled Midorima mentioning that Kise would have woken up within a couple of days but it has already been five days and he has still not woken up. What if he doesn't wake up ever? What if he won't be the same person anymore when he wakes up? All those worst case scenarios kept playing repeatedly in his head.

He recalled his last meeting with Kise. He had asked the latter out and when he showed up, Aomine only had harsh words for him. Kise left with anger towards him. What if that was the last memory Kise will ever have of him?

He tried to look for Kise's hand. There was a cast on his right forearm and Aomine remembered some mention of Kise breaking his right arm while trying to defend himself. He remembered the sight of Haizaki in the room looking fine without a single scratch on him before Aomine proceeded to make up for what he was lacking. Aomine's head hurt from trying to imagine what Kise must have gone through that night. He must have been so scared and so helpless, unable to fight back. He shivered at the thought of what could have happened if nobody had intervened before it turned for the worst.

"I'm sorry Kise…" Aomine whispered with utmost regret while grabbing Kise's hand tightly as he felt warm tears run down his face.

Not long after that, Takao knocked on the door to remind him that it was almost time to leave. Before he left, he kissed Kise's forehead lightly and called out to him to wake up soon.

* * *

The next morning, Aomine woke up cold and hungry for breakfast. He decided to buy some snacks from the vending machine on the 6th floor. He purposely planned that trip just so he has an excuse to walk past Kise's room and hoped that by some luck, the curtains would be open today and he would have the chance to see Kise from outside.

As he was coming from a distance, Aomine was surprised to see that curtains were opened today but as he got closer, he panicked when he saw that the room was empty. Completely forgetting about breakfast, Aomine rushed back to the reception downstairs to ask them on what happened to Kise.

"Oi! What happen to the patient in Room 608?" yells Aomine startling the reception staff on duty.

"Uh— Kise-kun you mean? I'm not quite sure…" said the receptionist as she glanced at another nurse nervously signalling her for assistance.

"Kise-kun woke up early this morning and his family requested for an immediate transfer. A private transport came to pick them up just over an hour ago," said the other nurse.

"Wha—? He woke up?"

"We don't know where he was taken to. His family refused to indulge any details with us as they are afraid that the media might follow them there. They are appealing for a moment of privacy for now…" the nurse continued.

Aomine's first thought was that he may never see Kise again and he slammed both his fists on the reception counter as he tried to contain his rage before leaving the hospital in a hurry without any idea on what to do next.


End file.
